


Worried About Ray

by MelodramaticMrTails



Series: Rooster Teeth Republic [3]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Ableism, Abuse, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - GTA, Drug Use, Explicit Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Major Illness, Mental Health Issues, Panic Attacks, Polyfidelity, Psychological Torture, Slurs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-06
Updated: 2017-05-30
Packaged: 2018-02-28 09:38:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 111,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2727539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelodramaticMrTails/pseuds/MelodramaticMrTails
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With the Fake AH crew settling into Republica, Ryan finds that being back at Roosterteeth stirs up a lot of old memories. Maybe he's coming to realise that he's had a warped view of what happened between him and Ray. While Ryan struggles to correct the errors he's made with Ray, Ray struggles to deal with his rapidly degrading disassociation. Geoff, on the other hand, discovers that maybe years of drinking hasn't been so good on him. </p><p>Republica has a way of fixing problems.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Truth Be Told

**Author's Note:**

> i know i kept saying the end of december but you guys were excited and i am excited and i already have three chapters done so what the hell. you can find me at my tumblr [here](http://themadkingsendshismilk.tumblr.com/) as per usual and if you haven't already, be sure to read Seven Nationed Army [i mean you don't have to but it will probs help understand this so] btw everyone was complaining about how the end of 7na wasn't heart wrenching enough and this is why. this is exactly why. good luck.

Ray wants nothing more than to just have a little time to himself which is exactly why he’s currently pretty happy with having the training floor all to himself. He had made plans to have an introductory fight with Tina to see if they were compatible but she has rescheduled due to reasons that she may have not come to on her own. Nothing has changed between now and when they scheduled their training session except for Ryan being home. If Ray finds out that Ryan has had anything to do with Tina rescheduling, Ryan’s going to find himself in possession of a new anus. Or two. Or three. Or however many it takes for Ryan to get it through his thick skull to stay out of Ray’s business.

It’s hard to imagine that actually happening, however, considering Ray seems to have some ‘onlookers’ watching him practice from the glass windows positioned high on the training floor's walls. Ray finds them easy enough to ignore, though, especially when he really gets focused on his training. There’s not much he can learn from Roosterteeth’s training floor anymore, the artificial scenarios are too easy and the dummies too predictable, but it keeps his skill sharp and gives him something to do on his down time. Now that he’s back home and on fucking restriction again due to his last mission being ‘too stressful on his physical and mental health’, Ray is considering associating himself with Joel and Adam again. This is largely for his own benefit, though.

If Ryan doesn’t want Ray in his life anymore, that’s fine with Ray. He’s really fed up with Ryan’s bullshit, anyways. He truly has changed and maybe now Ray is finally realising he wants nothing more to do with Ryan. One of the dummies sneak past him while he’s thinking and he doesn’t respond quick enough to stop it before it crosses into his ring.

“Point deducted,” Rwby announces long after Ray already knows that. Ray presses his palms against his temples in annoyance as several more dummies hurry past him and into the ring. Rwby lists over several more deducted points that Ray couldn’t care less about. Well, he has to start all over now anyways, doesn’t he? “Point deducted. Point deducted.”

“I know, Rwby!” Ray promises loudly. “Restart." The objects around him come to a stop like a game that's been paused but the arena doesn't clear to begin a new round.

"Ray," Rwby insists. "We've been over this. A perfect score isn't necessary. It's more beneficial in the long run if you play through your faults." Ray doesn't want to hear it right now. She's right, obviously, but what would really make him feel great at the moment is perfecting something- literally anything. This is what he's focused on.

"Just restart the floor, Rwby," Ray urges shortly. He isn't in the mood to argue with her right now, either, or be psychoanalyzed by the system for that matter. All he wants is something to put his attention on, perfect it, and then he can nap all day without feeling like he hasn't accomplished anything. Rwby huffs at him slightly to show her disapproval but she resets the floor all the same so Ray can start from the very beginning. This time, he tries to keep his mind from wandering.

It works.

Then it doesn't.

"Training request; Ryan Haywood," Rwby informs out of the blue. The floor pauses and Ray automatically glances up to where Ryan and his crew are watching him. He still has no idea why Ryan changed his preferred name from 'James'. Then again, he doesn't dedicate much energy to thinking about it either. Ray looks back to his task. A better question would be what Ryan thinks he's doing.

"Nah," he assures Rwby and the floor comes back to life. Whatever the reason is Ryan wants to train with him, Ray isn't having it. He doesn't care if Ryan is angry or if he wants to talk or if he wants to try and 'fix' things. Those are all things Ryan has already had a chance to do and he didn't. In fact, as Ray recalls, the first thing Ryan did when he saw Ray again was try to make him leave. He hadn't missed Ray at all. Why would he with his new datemates?

"Sparing request; Ryan Haywood."

So this is going to be a thing. Ray stops again when the floor does and irritably glances to the screen projecting Ryan's limited information. This is all stuff Ray already knows and doesn't care about. He knows he has an advantage over Ryan in a fight; Ryan throws his weight around too much. He knows their fighting styles are compatible; they trained together for months. He definitely fucking knows Ryan would be a hell of a lot more challenging than these repetitive dummies. That's all beside the point.

"No, Rwby," Ray tells her again. He hits a little harder now, unintentionally of course. It relieves some of his frustration, though, so he doesn't bother toning it down. The dummies react accordingly and begin to coward a little which is a bit annoying, admittedly. It's easier to keep them out of his circle when he doesn't have to wait for them to hesitate. It's also easier when the game doesn't pause every eight seconds.

"Message from Ryan Haywood," Rwby alerts.

"Jesus fucking Christ, I don't care," Ray says loudly. He knows Ryan can't hear him and that kind of defeats the purpose but it hardly matters. "Just delete it, okay?"

"You're not gonna read it first at least?" Rwby inquires.

"No," Ray answers in exasperation. "Fuck dude. I don't want anything to do with him. If it's from Ryan, don't even bother letting me know."

"If you're sure," Rwby murmurs.

"Pretty fucking sure," Ray confirms. So much for having some time to himself. It's over, why doesn't Ryan get that? They don't need to have anything to do with each other ever again just like Ryan wants. Just like Ray wants. He shakes it off to return to his merciless beating of stuffed figures. The best solution to this problem is to not think about it. Again, this goes perfectly until he’s rudely interrupted once more.

“Training request-”

“God dammit, Rwby!” Ray shouts irritably. Now he has to start all over again just because he’s completely out of rhythm. He’s pretty sure in a real fight everything isn’t going to pause suddenly every three fucking minutes. That’s just a guess, though.

“If I could finish,” Rwby replies shortly. “Training request from Gavin Free.” Ray looks up to where the crew was watching him. He assumes this is some half hearted attempt Ryan is making at trying to sneak in but this doesn’t seem to be the case. In fact, it looks like they’re all squawking over what Gavin has done; Ray can't hear them either. This is ridiculous pretty much all the way around. It’s not like Ray would seriously hurt Gavin, he has no reason to, but he also doesn’t know why Gavin thinks anything he could say to Ray would change his mind. While it’s obviously not Ryan’s idea, Gavin is capable of thinking for himself and thinking that he can somehow speak on Ryan’s behalf and have Ray listen is not one of his better ideas.

“Fine,” Ray answers simply.

“Training request accepted,” Rwby confirms. The excessive movement from the crew stops suddenly as if they hadn’t expected Ray to really agree to it. He hadn’t planned on it, but Ray also knows that it’s become very clear that he’s not going to get any peace and quiet right now. Whether talking to Gavin is going to deter them from bothering him more or encourage them to continue to harass him is still in the air. Ray heads off the floor as Rwby clears it for the next task.

Though Ray has not officially fought Gavin before, nor has he really seen Gavin fight, Ray doubts they’re going to be particularly compatible. This is less because of Ray, however, and more because Gavin is a fucking lunatic. To some degree, this may actually be fun. That’s only if he’s wrong and Gavin isn’t going to try to talk about Ryan. As the chances of that are low, so are the chances of this turning out anything but horrible. Admittedly, Ray would love to have a challenging fight with someone new. It's why he's hopeful Tina will change her mind. Gavin, obviously, isn't going to satisfy this desire.

“Only Gavin may enter the training floor,” Rwby says idly when the doors open. Ray peers over his shoulder shortly. Ryan knows better than to enter the floor when he isn’t supposed to but his boyfriends don’t and need to be instructed to stay back. Before leaving for a better viewing angle, though, Ryan assures Gavin’s mic is fixated properly around his throat. This is likely to be able to instruct him in case Ray tries anything. Ray continues to harbor no ill intentions for Gavin.

Gavin jumps when the doors automatically close behind him, effectively sealing him in the training floor with Ray. Two circles light up on the floor to guide them and Ray automatically takes one as his own. It doesn’t take Gavin very long to recognise that the other is for him to stand in. Once in place, Rwby displays their directions on the wall in front of them.

“Let me know if you have any problems, Gavin!” Rwby assures gladly. Since Gavin is new, Rwby currently lacks a basic understanding of his nature. Once she's known him a little longer, she'll adapt to his needs just like everyone else's. Or not, if Gavin tells her not to. He'd be an idiot to do that, though. Rwby is quite literally a life saver.

“Will do!” Gavin agrees. Stretching isn’t exactly a difficult task for either of them. Ray has already stretched but there's no harm in doing it again with Gavin, especially when he hadn't prepared for a partner. True to the Gavin Ray knows, he doesn't beat around the bush.

"Why're you avoiding Ryan then?" he asks and it sounds more curious than scathing. The difference between these two things, however, are few and far.

"Why wouldn't I be avoiding him?" Ray replies. It's a vague answer considering there really are a countless number of reasons he would want nothing to do with Ryan. Which one of those Gavin comes to is hardly relevant to Ray. The answer is enough to satisfy him at any rate and they stretch in silence for a few seconds. When he speaks again, it's quiet and soft.

"He loves you, you know," Gavin assures as they mimic the images Rwby displays on screen. He glances at Ray out the corner of his eye and Ray snorts a laugh.

"Trust me Gavin, he doesn't," Ray promises. Ryan had made it crystal clear. He loves Geoff and he loves Jack and he loves Michael and he loves Gavin. He doesn't love Ray. In fact, he's not sure he ever had. For Ray, Republica is clarity. Before he started working here, his life had been a big blur of days running together and everything just being slightly out of focus; slightly out of reach. He believes the opposite it true for Ryan, that instead Republica had been a high Ryan came down from too quickly and everything he had done while working here was done with skewed inhibitions. Ray included.

"Well, I mean," Gavin begins like he's ready to go off on a long discussion about it. Ray cuts him off.

"I don't wanna talk about Ryan, Vav," Ray tells him simply. "Especially not with you, Jesus. You know how weird it is for someone to tell you their boyfriend loves you?"

"It's not that weird," Gavin mumbles under his breath.

"It's pretty fucking weird, man," Ray assures. To this, Gavin has little else to say. There's no way this is the end of the Ryan topic but Ray can definitely try to make it be. Really, he kind of likes Gavin. If it weren't for the fact associating with him meant associating with Ryan, Ray would probably try to hang out with him more. Of course, Ray knows he's an adult and he could be handling this situation with a little more elegance but fuck that. Ryan never cared about his feelings anyways.

Granted, that's likely because he didn't know Ray had any.

"Are you really going to give him the bloody cold shoulder, though?" Gavin questions in an immediate return to the topic Ray said he didn't want to talk about.

"Gavin," Ray sighs irritably. "Ryan's done nothing but treat me like shit. I don't want to talk about it, okay?"

"But that's not true!" Gavin insists.

"Gavin!" Ray snaps. At the sudden edge to his voice, Gavin falls silent. If Ryan has something he wants to say, then he can say it to Ray's face. Except he can't because Ray doesn't want to hear it. Funny how that all works out. They finish stretching in silence and when they're done, the two circles they stand in disappear.

"This place is bloody weird, innit?" Gavin says as he shakes himself out.

"Nah," Ray disagrees. "It's pretty neat, actually. Just takes some time to get used to. Have you seen the labs yet? They're fucking _sweet_."

"Like science labs?" Gavin asks, his curiosity piqued. Ray shrugs a bit.

"Sorta, I guess. It's where they developed new shit for agents and test stuff or whatever," Ray explains. "Some pretty cool people down there, too."

"Sounds top," Gavin grins excitedly. Another circle lights up on the floor when Rwby is done with her calculations. This one is bigger than previous two and gives enough room for both of them to stand in.

"Okay, cool, this one's easy," Ray promises as he enters the ring. "We just gotta try and knock each other out, yeah?"

"Out of the ring," Rwby corrects. "Please try not to knock yourselves unconscious." Gavin hops into the ring with him and there's not a lot of space to share. There's enough to move around but even then, it'll require some footwork. That is the point, after all.

"Like to ten points maybe?" Ray suggests.

"What? You get a point every time you push the other person out?" Gavin asks.

"No, you get a point every time you ask a dumb question," Ray answers sarcastically. Gavin pouts a little.

"Hey, calm down," he replies quickly. "Ten doesn't seem like a lot."

"How about most points at the end of ten minutes?" Rwby offers. Ray nods to confirm this idea and Gavin smiles enthusiastically.

"Perfect!" he agrees. If ten didn't seem like a lot to Gavin, a time limit is probably better. Ray recalls doing this with Ryan for hours just so one of them could get to five points. Unfortunately, as much as he wouldn’t like to, Ray recalls the winner’s choice sex afterwards as well. It would definitely help him forget these things if Ryan would stop trying to butt into his life. Rwby displays a timer on a section of the wall for their reference. At least this won’t be a short fight like Ray had expected it to be.

“Ready?” Rwby prompts gladly.

“Ready!” Gavin assures.

“Ready,” Ray says calmly.

“Begin!”

Ray doesn’t waste any time, reaching for Gavin in the small space without hesitation. Gavin, while still managing to be bigger than Ray, isn’t big enough to pose a predominant problem in a fist fight. He can’t hold enough power to incapacitate him at any rate. Well, Ray assumes. He doesn’t actually get to find out because Gavin jumps back violently and completely out of the ring.

“Fault,” Rwby announces and the timer stops.

“What the fuck, Gavin?” Ray inquires briskly.

“What’s that mean?” Gavin replies curiously, glancing toward the scoreboard and the enclosed ‘one’ under his name. In all of the fights Ray has had here, that he’s _seen_ here, he’s never once seen a person in perfect physical health and condition get a fault. In fact, now he’s not sure if he’s ever actually seen a fault but rather only heard of them happening from word of mouth.

"It means you stepped out of the ring without me touching you,” Ray say plainly. “Chill out, man. It’s not like I’m gonna kill you or something, Jesus.”

“I know that!” Gavin assures at once as he shakes himself off. He gets back in the ring and Ray backs up to his starting position again. “It’s just scary, ya know. Just jumping at me like that. What did you expect me to do?”

“Fight back!” Ray replies loudly. Gavin babbles out a series of noises that Ray can’t make heads or tails of but he makes a determined huff and prepares his hands as if to actually fight this time which is enough for Rwby to call the next round. This round is over just as quickly. Ray moves with the intention of striking him low in his chest but the second he puts a foot forward, Gavin hops back again. He's quick, that's for sure.

“Fault!” Rwby calls again. “I’m not sure you understand the idea of this game, Gavin.”

“No no! I understand!” Gavin promises. “Ray’s just scary,” he mumbles halfly. Ray rolls his eyes. While his concern had been about the fight being too short, he’s now concerned about the fight being too long. The timer doesn’t run between rounds and if Gavin is going to make every round two seconds long, they’re going to be here for a very long time.

“I know!” Gavin shouts and he reaches into his mouth with a few fingers likely to adjust the receiver of his mic. He sticks his tongue out irritably but doesn’t seem to have knocked it loose. “It’s so bloody weird hearing you guys talking all at once in my head.”

“Are you actually going to participate or?” Ray questions to get Gavin’s attention back.

“Yeah, I swear,” Gavin says quickly. “I got it this time, really.” Obviously Ray doesn’t believe this. Gavin steps back into the ring again and this time when Rwby begins the round, Ray doesn’t move forward immediately. This does prevent Gavin from instantly stepping out but it doesn’t initiate any fight from his end. When Ray moves towards him, Gavin jerks back but this time he stops himself before he steps completely out of the ring. He wobbles back on his heels, losing his balancing and making it exceptionally easy for Ray to just push him back. As he hits the floor hard with his butt, Rwby calls the round.

“Point, Ray!”

Gavin rubs his rear unpleasantly and Ray holds out a hand to help him back to his feet. He sighs loudly and stretches backwards to relief some of the stress on his back before glancing up to where his boyfriends watch. It doesn’t take a genius to realise they’re complaining loudly about Gavin’s inability to do anything productive. Rwby makes the circle a little bigger, giving them more room to move around and hopefully to prevent Gavin from inadvertently stepping out.

“Here Gavin,” Ray says and he gestures Gavin to come closer to him. “I’ll show you some footwork.” It’s just training; a game really. There’s no reward or punishment or anything. In fact, the whole point is for them to get better and Ray, despite knowing that it does nothing to help himself, doesn’t mind assisting Gavin.

“Like for real, man, you never want to flee straight back,” Ray explains as he uses his foot to kick Gavin’s feet into place. “If there’s a dude right behind you, you’re screwed. Even if you bump into someone going sideways you have a better chance.”

“Uh, yeah. That makes sense,” Gavin agrees quietly. Ray stands side by side with him, mimicking his footing so Gavin can see it for himself.

“You got some spindly fucking legs though, so you gotta be careful,” Ray assures him. “You’re gonna end up tripping yourself and landing all kinds of on your face.” He gestures Gavin to watch his feet and Gavin leans over curiously. Ray moves slowly the first time so he can see how to do it, moving away from Gavin with deliberately placed steps. Gavin immediately copies his movement, mastering the slow version easily.

“Use your non dominant foot as a pivot and your dominant foot to move. Makes it easier to not tangle your legs up,” Ray instructs mildly. He moves a bit quicker this time, stepping out of Gavin’s reach in a circular movement to stay within the wide circle. “Going straight up also works, I guess. You know, like cats? They jump like eight feet in the air to confuse their attackers and probably themselves. Fucking nerds.”

“So you’re telling me that in an emergency, to either side step or jump eight bloody feet in the air?” Gavin says incredulously.

“Hey, who’s really going to stop you if you jump eight feet straight in the air?” Ray insists. Gavin opens his mouth to argue before apparently realising he has a point and nodding in amused agreement. Though Ray is right and it turns out to be really easy for Gavin to trip himself, he gets a hang of it fairly quickly. They forget about their king of the hill game in order to practice some escape footwork instead which is fine by Ray. Gavin isn’t the easiest person to teach but as long as he isn’t doing any damage with his failures and isn’t preventing Ray from succeeding, then it’s really not an issue. In fact, watching him land on his face several times because he can’t follow simple directions is pretty amusing.

Honestly, Gavin’s footwork is already incredibly good. It’s when he starts thinking about it too much that he starts fucking it up. Ray is aware already that Gavin’s fight or flight reaction is easily the best out of his crew and that jumping out of the ring before Ray could even put hands on him is the best response. Of course, Ray had never intended to harm him but Gavin likely knows instinctively that he wouldn’t have stood a chance and preventing failure before it happens is always the best choice. It’s too bad Gavin doesn’t make that choice more often.

Overall, it isn’t a very productive use of Ray’s time. On the bright side, it did distract him for a while and he can consider this as accomplishing something sort of. He thinks he’ll be able to sleep comfortably now. If he can’t, well, there’s always a back up plan. More importantly, though, he needs to get off of the training floor before his slotted time is up because he knows for a fact, Gavin’s boyfriends will be hustling down to see him and Ray doesn’t want to be here when they do. He doesn’t even bother mentioning his departure to Gavin who is happily catching his breath and patting himself dry. He's sweating a lot considering it hadn’t even been a physically challenging session.

“Ray, wait up then,” Gavin calls. Ray isn’t sure why he thought he could get away with this. He may have ended any discussion about Ryan but that didn’t mean Gavin wasn’t still in it to help Ryan. “We’re gonna do this again, right?”

“Uh,” Ray replies with obvious reluctance. He scratches the back of his head faintly. It’s not Gavin that makes him ill to this idea. Well, it’s sort of Gavin. Training with Gavin doesn’t help Ray even remotely. “I dunno Gavin.”

“Aw, X-Ray,” Gavin says sadly. Before Ray can offer a response, the training floor opens up and sure enough, there is the Fake AH crew waiting to enter the floor. Ray catches eyes with Ryan immediately. Oh hell no.

“I gotta go, Gavin,” Ray assures him dismissively as he turns to take another exit. “I’ll talk to you later.”

He leaves no room for argument or reply and he certainly doesn’t leave any room for Ryan to say anything to him. Ray is thankful for Rwby’s read of the situation and she closes the exit off behind him so he won’t be followed.

If he was going to sleep well, he’s not anymore.

\- x -

Ryan isn’t altogether sure what to do with himself. Currently, the others are off in their own rooms getting used to the system and just overall comforting themselves in where they’ll be staying for a short time. Burnie has offered Geoff a larger room for the lot of them to share while they complete their necessary training in Republica even if it's not really kosher for agents to live together. While this is fine and all, Ryan knows for a fact his boyfriends are currently very invested in all the things they have access to now. Ryan is a little concerned about them finding out anything about him and Ray, but at this point, it’s unavoidable. The sooner they get it out of the way, the better.

That’s not his main worry, though. Ray is avoiding him. Ryan knows he shouldn’t be surprised, he isn’t actually, but it gives him mixed feelings. There are few things about Ray lately that don’t give him mixed feelings. On one hand, Ryan loathes what Ray has done. He hates that Ray had lied to him and manipulated him but what he really hates is that he fell for it. At the same time, Ryan can feel himself falling into the same potent way of thinking he used to have because he had fallen for it. Ray had completely and utterly convinced Ryan that he could change.

And that’s attractive.

Ryan keeps telling himself that no, it’s not. That what Ray did is unforgivable regardless of the outcome it has produced. Even with this firmly planted in his head, he still loves Ray. There is no getting around that. He fears now that this is something he won’t be able to get over easily if at all and it’s hard. It’s hard to go through all his old things and remember where he got them and why he kept them and why he’s going to continue to keep them. It’s even harder to have to sort out things that don’t belong to him but Ray and put them in a box to, hopefully, give back.

Mostly, though, it feels weird. Ryan is all too aware that he shouldn’t be having feelings like this for Ray. Not because of Ray and not because of anything Ray did, but rather because they hadn’t even known each other that long and had been together even less. To be perfectly honestly, Ryan isn’t even sure he knows what Ray is really like. Everything they had together is now questionable at best. It reminds Ryan far too much of trying to rekindle a middle school crush after too many years; pathetic.

If he could just drop it and forget about Ray again, he would without hesitation, but he can’t. He couldn’t if he tried and he doesn’t want to try. Regardless of what sense it makes logically or how much he overthinks it, Ryan knows what he feels. He knows what he felt when he thought Ray had started loving him again and he knows he has to try at least. If he fails, then he’ll be worse for it but it’ll be done with and he can live the rest of his life with lingering regret that he only recalls on nights he can’t sleep and days he can’t breath.

Pathetic.

Annoyed with himself and done with sorting through all his old things for the night, Ryan pushes the half full cardboard box aside and gets to his feet. He rolls his shoulders to disperse some of the stiffness before grabbing his tablet and heading out the door. Sleeping will be easier with some decent food in his belly and the walk will ease some of his worries. That’s the idea, at least, which turns out to not be even remotely true when Ryan walks out of his apartment and straight into Ray.

By no means did Ryan think to check before leaving his room and he hates his ‘comedic’ timing more than anything. Ray doesn’t even look at him as he walks past, unwavered from his destination. Ryan hesitates a moment. He’s also going that direction. It’s an awkward walk to the elevator, Ryan having to walk just a few steps behind Ray and their leg length difference causing him to catch up rather fast. They reach the elevator at the same time and Ray gives him a half look that’s just begging to ask if Ryan really needs to take the same elevator down.

No, he doesn’t have to. Ryan does anyways and when Ray directs the elevator it becomes obvious that they’re going to the same place.

“Late night snack?” Ryan questions knowingly.

“Yeah,” Ray answers without inflection. If it hadn’t been clear before, it’s clear now that Ray doesn’t want to talk to him. Ryan stands in silence as he tries to coordinate what he wants to say and how to say it. Preferably in a way that won’t make Ray want to hit him.

“I actually, uh, wanted to talk to you, Ray,” Ryan mentions offhandedly.

“Don’t talk to me,” Ray deadpans back. Okay. That was obviously going to happen. Ryan had been ready for that kind of response.

“I honestly can’t help it if I just happen to talk to myself out loud and you’re around to hear,” Ryan suggests with a calm shrug. Ray proceeds to look him dead in the eye as he lifts his headphones from around his neck and snaps them over his ears. Leaving no room to even think that he's still listening, Ray retrieves his iPod from his pocket to play his music loud enough for even Ryan to hear. Right.

"Good talk," Ryan mumbles to himself with a soft sigh. It's going to be hard to try to befriend Ray again if he doesn't want to listen. He'll just have to wait until things settle down and Ray is ready to talk to him. Knowing what he does about Ray, Ryan knows this isn't going to happen. Ray will sooner forget than forgive, especially in cases like this. They're even now, why should Ray forgive him?

Ryan isn't actually sure if either of them need to be forgiven, but that seems beside the point. There's a reason Ray isn't talking to him and he wants to fix it. Even if they just go back to being friends or acquaintances, that's enough. When the elevator stops on the designated floor, Ray gets off immediately and Ryan right behind him. They go different directions from there.

It's late and not many people occupy the cafeteria fortunately or otherwise. Ryan watches for a moment as Ray approaches Joel and Adam already seated at one of the many tables. He pulls his headphones down to join them and even from a distance, Ryan can see him grin and laugh and chat. Seeing him so happy again is great until Ryan remembers he is the main reason Ray is unhappy.

Ryan finds himself something to eat among the many choices the dining hall provides. He takes half a sandwich and Rwby suggests warm milk to help him sleep. Instead, Ryan goes for a coke and Rwby scolds him faintly. She's a lot more motherly than the old system was, but Ryan likes her. Rwby seems way more human than Phyllis had. They've come a ways.

Before departing to head back to his room, Ryan glances back to Ray and his 'friends'. He's not sure if he's envious or sad when he sees Joel nuzzle Ray's neck affectionately and Ray snort that obnoxious laugh. As he takes the elevator back up, Ryan wonders distantly if Ray would really get back together with Joel after what he'd done. The conclusion Ryan comes to is no, probably not, and he probably wouldn't be too keen on trying things again with a paranoid, idiotic dumbass, either.

Ryan goes back to his apartment in a worse mood than he left it in. Though his original intention had been to get something to eat so he can sleep better, neither of these things actually happen. He ends up putting his food down without touching it and returns to sorting through his things.

It's surprising some of the things Ray has left here when he'd had plenty of chances to retrieve them. Ryan's sure he's replaced most of them by now, of course, things like handhelds and hoodies. Other things he probably would have simply thrown away anyways; watches and bracelets and knives. Or in other words, gifts from Ryan. He'd never really wanted them in the first place, though, only accepting them because he knew it was how Ryan showed affection.

Ryan examines a ring he's found at the bottom of one of his drawers. He used to bring Ray home a lot of things from his solo missions. This one he remembers because of the engraving on the inside reading 'to my dearest Richard, may we never part' poor Spanish. Ryan had cut it off of some white collared criminal and mailed the finger to said criminal's wife for ransom. Ray definitely hadn't wanted it, laughing and asking if 'Richard' was Ryan's mistress before dropping it upon the realisation that there was still blood on the inside.

It was too big for Ray's dainty fingers anyways and Ryan had promised to buy a better one and engrave it properly. He never got around to doing that. Ray would have liked it, though, Ryan bets. Ray had always liked things that shined and sparkled. Not as much as he liked video games and guns but a close second.

Ryan tosses the ring into the box with everything else that belongs to Ray and tries not to think too much about the things he regrets. Over time he had slowly but surely stopped bringing gifts home to Ray. He hadn't thought Ray liked them and Ray had never said anything about not receiving them anymore. Then again, Ray had never said much anyways.

What's really sad, Ryan thinks, is the old hot pink PSP he finds half under the bed with all of Ray's save files on games he had and hadn't finished. He'd always had to be doing something and despite preferring console games, Ray always seemed to have enough handhelds to keep himself busy while they were out. It's not as important as the games he could get achievements in, but still Ryan thinks Ray couldn't have left it here anything but purposely.

Ryan fiddles with it a bit to see if it still works. It does but he's never been great at these kinds of games. He sticks it in the box as well. It's not surprising, but Ryan has only filled the file box about half full by the time he's done. Ray had always been protective of his things and thinking back on it now, he had probably just been getting comfortable enough to start leaving his stuff in Ryan's personal space. Perhaps Ray hadn't trusted him as much as Ryan wants to think but he had been trying.

It had been a slow burn Ryan extinguished violently under the assumption it would set him on fire.

Ryan almost thinks he would have preferred to be on fire but then he remembers that his poor choices had lead him to meeting Geoff and that softens the regret. Remembering this also reminds him he has four ridiculous boyfriends here to help him win Ray back and that no matter what happens, they'll still love him. If he doesn't fuck that up, too, of course. On top of that, Ryan is certain at least two of his boyfriends are crushing on Ray hard which isn't something he expected.

On the other hand, Ray does have a weird sort of allure Ryan can totally see Geoff falling for and Gavin might as well be a schoolboy when it comes to liking people. Michael probably likes him more than he let's on, too, even if he won't show it due to the unfortunate circumstances. As for Jack, Ryan knows all too well his love is nothing but platonic until it's not.

The idea that maybe, just maybe, Ray could be a part of their family, to be welcomed into their family, makes Ryan's heart flutter. Of course, it systematically drops out of his chest when he realises Ray would never go for something like that but he can hope.

Hope never gets results.

\- x -

"Ray hates me," Ryan mopes. "Ray hates me and he's going to start dating that weenie Joel again."

"If it makes you feel better, I seriously doubt Ray is capable of hating anyone," Michael assures. These new mics are actually pretty nice. They work much better than the old ones they had and it allows Geoff to talk to his team from basically anywhere without having to worry about it moving or it not picking up his voice. Sure, the whole 'transmit sound through teeth' thing is kind of weird but it works. Geoff can hear everyone crystal clear and still listen to his surroundings; a fatal flaw in their old in-ear mics.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure his lowest setting is 'apathy'," Geoff promises. He waits on the other side of Roosterteeth in a rather comfortable room for Jack and the doctor to return with his test results. Jack had to come because Geoff doesn't know anything about his medical history for at least the last eight years. That's what he keeps Jack around for, after all. Pft,'love'.

"That doesn't make me feel better at all," Ryan says blandly. "I'd rather him hate me."

"That's so fucking dumb," Michael replies with a loud scoff.

"What do you have against Joel anyways, Ry?" Gavin questions curiously. Ryan sighs.

"Nothing," he admits begrudgingly. "He's a decent person, I guess. It would be fantastic if he didn't date Ray, though."

"Okay, so I'm worried there's a line you're starting to cross somewhere with this whole Ray thing," Geoff says. "Like a 'romantic' to 'super fucking creepy' line, dude. Seriously."

"No," Ryan answers as if the idea is absurd then he pauses to consider it before reassuring, "no. Definitely not. I mean, creepy would be like threatening Joel or something, right?"

"Didn't you punch him in the face repeatedly?" Gavin reminds.

"Yeah and then threaten to 'break every bone in his body' if you ever saw him again," Michael agrees.

"I," Ryan begins shortly before having to stop. "Well yeah," he murmurs reluctantly. "That was unrelated, though."

"Whatever, man," Geoff says with a shrug. "Just don't let it get out of hand, okay? You got some really fucked up tendencies and I don't want to have to beat your ass."

"Your support is duly noted," Ryan replies coldly.

"You are throwing some mixed bloody signals around," Gavin insists. "It's no wonder he doesn't want to damn talk to you."

"Mixed signals?" Ryan repeats. "What? How do you figure that?"

"Well, you called him a bloody liar and now you're trying to shag him," Gavin points out.

"You told him you didn't trust him and then you relied on him to help us?" Michael offers up.

"Remember when you finally admitted you still loved him and then not even a day later went into a rage and tried to killed him?" Geoff adds in.

"Okay wait," Ryan says quickly. "That's not fair. You're completely taking those situations out of context. Those things didn't happen in a void, you know. And for the record, he is a liar and I was right not to trust him, wasn't I?"

"Sure, Ryan, sure," Michael says with a hint of sarcasm.

"I honestly don't know why I thought you guys would help," Ryan sighs but it's not shockingly serious.

"Hey, we're helping!" Gavin promises.

"Yeah, we're gonna get your dick sucked so hard," Michael assures.

"No," Ryan says. "No. That's not what we're trying to accomplish. Not even close." Geoff glances up when the door slides open and Jack returns with the doctor. They chat idly as the doctor goes through his tablet.

"Jack and Bert are back. No one get their dick sucked until I'm done," Geoff insists.

"No promises," Michael murmurs.

"My name's Blaine," the doctor says shortly as Geoff turns his mic off. He shrugs halfly like it's really not all that important. Hey, he was close. There's a 'b' in there.

"Whatever. Did I ace my tests or what?" Geoff inquires. Blaine grabs a chair to sit in front of Geoff and Jack stands behind to look over his shoulder as he presumably looks through Geoff's test results.

"Let's see here," Blaine says idly as he flicks his finger over the screen. Geoff watches as their faces slowly morph into a sort of horrified awe. On Jack, this doesn't bother Geoff. Jack worries about everything far too much. Blaine, however, concerns Geoff a bit more.

"Well? Am I pregnant? I told you guys this would happen," Geoff assures jokingly. Jack opens his mouth to speak but no words come out.

"Uh," Blaine answers which is exactly what Geoff wants to come out of a doctor's mouth. "I- how are you alive, Geoff?"

"The hell is that supposed to mean?" Geoff scoffs back brutally. That's not a weirdly vague thing to say or anything. Blaine seems entirely baffled, though, staring at his tablet like he doesn't know what to say. Jack looks to Geoff in what can only be a mix of intense fear and utter confusion.

"Well, first and foremost, your liver seems to be functioning at about two percent, Geoff," Blaine finally explains.

"And what? That's bad?" Geoff asks.

"Is that bad?" Jack repeats sourly. "That means your liver is failing, Geoff! Believe it or not, two percent out of a hundred percent isn't good!"

"Your liver is going to fail completely quite literally at any moment," Blaine says a bit calmer. "You're going to need a transplant like three weeks ago."

"I fucking told you, you drink too much," Jack snaps bitterly. "I fucking told you, you can't fucking do this. And what did you do? Not listen to me, that's for damn sure."

"I feel fine," Geoff assures them simply. He's not really sure what else to say. "Shouldn't I have like symptoms or something of liver failure?"

"Why do you think we're confused?" Jack growls. Geoff so doesn't need his snark right now.

"Uh, because neither of you have medical licenses?" Geoff offers pointedly. Neither of them offer any counter argument to this, however.

"Top priority right now is to grow you a new liver and get that one out," Blaine promises.

"Grow?" Geoff murmurs.

"Down in the lab, yeah. Since you're severely into liver failure, you're going to need to stay in house until your surgery. A couple days, a week at most," he explains. That sounds incredibly not fun. That also didn't answer his question of how they're going to 'grow' a new liver. "You have to stop drinking, Geoff."

"No way," Geoff assures with a laugh. "Not gonna happen."

"You're literally drinking yourself to death, Geoff!" Jack snaps. He isn’t dead yet. As it is, Geoff really doesn’t want to fan this flame by making a stupid statement Jack will remember for the rest of his life. This isn’t something up for discussion and Jack knows it. Geoff looks back to Blaine blandly.

“Is that all?” he questions. If his liver is the only issue with his health, this is a little over dramatic, isn’t it? Hell, Blaine makes it sound as though they’d be able to replace his liver as many times as they see fit. Which honestly, Geoff wouldn’t be surprised if they could. He did say ‘grow’. Fortunately, Jack decides to fume silently for the moment. Bad news for future Geoff but great news for present Geoff.

“Uh, no,” Blaine says slowly. He brings up an image on the wall for them all to see. It looks like an x-ray but with more bones than Geoff thought a person actually had. Blaine points to a few of the abnormal white spots. “This is shrapnel.”

“Okay,” Geoff answers.

“This is all shrapnel,” Blaine explains, gesturing to the entirety of the image. “There is about a flour sack worth of shrapnel in you, Geoff.”

“Flour sack?” Geoff repeats. “Did you just use ‘flour sack’ as a unit of measurement?”

“Hey! It’s weirdly accurate!” Blaine promises briskly. “These are shot gun pellets, this seems to be a cluster of metal fragments from a car, these six are forty fives, that’s a fifty, that seems to be a musket ball, this here is the broken blade of Bowie knife, this is the end of a fucking crowbar, and this here, where you heart should be but couldn’t possibly be, is a round from a high caliber sniper rifle.”

“Huh,” is really all Geoff can manage initially. He presses on his chest a little as if to feel the abnormality under his skin but it’s likely buried in their pretty deep. Honestly, this is a little surprising to him. “I don’t recall any of those.”

“You don’t recall getting shot in the chest with a sniper rifle?” Blaine repeats. “Or getting shot in the back with a shotgun. Or a _musket_.”

“Not really,” Geoff assures. That does seem like stuff he should remember, though. Then again, he’s been in a lot of fights over the years, there’s no way he would be able to remember all of the injuries he got in those fights.

“Right,” Blaine says plainly. “Okay. Well we’re gonna have to remove all of that, especially the one embedded in your heart somehow, so yeah.”

“And that’s safe, right?” Geoff asks. It hasn’t caused him a problem thus far so he can’t imagine it being an issue to just leave everything where it is.

“Safer than leaving a fucking bullet lodge in your heart, yeah,” Jack huffs sharply.

“Basically,” Blaine agrees. “You’re going to be moving around a lot more in the future and having all of those sharp bits inside of you isn’t going to go over so well. You’re going to have to pretty much not do anything until we get you patched up.”

“So that's it, then? My liver and some shrapnel?” Geoff reconfirms.

“Well,” Blaine continues. It’s now that Geoff considers that maybe he should have seen a doctor some time in the last, what, twenty years? “It looks like you have the beginnings of chronic gastritis which is cured by not drinking.” Geoff shakes his head instinctively.

“I fucking hate you,” Jack sighs.

“Uh, you’re very clearly an alcoholic as well, so-” Blaine begins but Geoff is quick to cut him off.

“Last time I checked, drinking is not a medical issue,” he points out irritably. This is exactly why he didn’t want Jack wandering off with Blaine. At no point did he want this to turn into an intermission with a fucking stranger.

“When you drink enough to cause your liver to failure, begin the symptoms of chronic gastritis, and completely forgot getting shot with a _musket_ , it turns into a medical problem,” Blaine assures him calmly. “Either you stop drinking or attend therapy until you stop drinking. Until then, I can’t approve you for training or any actual work.”

“Good,” Jack scoffs sourly.

“Are you shitting me?” Geoff answers shortly.

“At this point, no,” Blaine says. “Before we can perform surgery, let alone a transplant, you have to be sober anyways Geoff. Roosterteeth requires its agents to be relatively lucid on any life changing decision making. In fact, now that I think about it, your contract might be void.”

“Void?” Geoff repeats. “What the fuck do you mean, ‘void’?”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Jack sighs loudly as he begins out of the room with his head in his hand. “I have to go sit down.”

“So your choices are stop drinking or liver failure,” Blaine assures. “Which will cause death, in case you were wondering. I’m gonna go ahead and take a scraping from your liver, though, and send it down to the lab. Hopefully by the time they’re done, you’ll have made up your mind. Uh, and are still alive.”

Geoff groans.

\- x -

Like parents arguing, it’s unanimously decided to stay out of it. While Michael is sure that Jack would appreciate the backup, it’s an unreasonably scary place to be. Furthermore, this really doesn’t feel like a fight for the rest of them. They care about Geoff, of course, but this goes back way further than any of them. Further than Jack, even. Michael wouldn’t be surprised if Jack has Griffon on the phone right now to help scold Geoff into oblivion. Which is all the more reason he, Gavin, and Ryan are staying far away from this loud conversation.

“So what’s going to happen if Geoff’s contract is void?” Gavin questions curiously. It’s a little concerning because if Geoff has to leave, the rest of them can’t. Ryan considers it for a moment before shrugging faintly.

“He’ll have to sign his contract again when he meets the qualifications,” is the simple answer. It sounds simple in theory but the whole reason this is an issue is because they’ve talked about this before. As much as Michael doesn’t want Geoff to destroy himself, he’s pretty sure the alcohol helps.

“You think he’ll do that?” Gavin asks.

“Oh what? Do I think Geoff is going to immediately sign his contract again the second he gets the chance? Yes,” Ryan promises like there shouldn’t even be any question about it. “The rest of our contracts are still binding. Geoff isn’t going to leave us here.”

“He might if he stops drinking,” Michael murmurs.

“What?” Gavin squawks with sudden concern.

“He wouldn’t,” Ryan repeats affirmatively. “Come on, it’s _Geoff_.”

“Dude, maybe I’m just dumb as hell, but maybe there’s a reason Geoff’s old friends really want him here?” Michael reminds. The rest of them sure as hell don’t have anything going for them. They’re 'slightly more useful than not' baggage. “And remember that time Ray vaguely mentioned that he knew something about Geoff’s past and Geoff got really serious all of a sudden? Or that time he said he knew why Geoff drinks? Because I do and maybe Geoff has his secrets, too.”

“Right, and you equivalent that to leaving us here which would seriously require him leaving us in general,” Ryan insists. Michael shrugs.

“I’m saying Geoff’s so reluctant to fucking stop drinking for a fucking reason,” he assures.

“Yes,” Ryan agrees in a stressed tone. “Because he’s a fucking alcoholic. That’s what happens when you binge drink for twenty plus years.” Michael scoffs loudly but he doesn’t want to argue about it. Of course, this is mainly because he doesn’t want to condone Geoff's refusal of sobriety. He is only trying to make the point that after twenty plus years of drinking, maybe Geoff suddenly being forced to not drink isn’t going to go over as well as they think.

Mostly though, maybe Michael is afraid a sober Geoff is going to be as unrecognizable to them as they will be to him.

“Geoff has a problem,” Ryan says a bit softer as he crosses his arms and leans back. “Republica has ways of fixing problems.” 


	2. The Truth Be Told

Geoff is uncomfortable at best. When Blaine said he needed a scrapping of liver Geoff thought that was a turn of phrase or a joke or something, not that he’d have to lie on a table while Blaine poked holes in him. After being assured that a local anesthesia was enough, Geoff had dumbly agreed and now he really wishes he hadn’t taken Blaine’s word for it. Weirdly enough, just because it’s not painful doesn’t mean it isn’t weird as hell to have a six inch needle touching his liver. Fortunately, he has better things to consider than being prodded by a ‘technically never got fired’ doctor. He'd have to have been one in the first place for that to happen.

“Blaine,” Geoff murmurs slightly to get his attention.

“Hm,” is the distracted reply Blaine gives and soon after there is a sharp pain in Geoff’s stomach where a sharp pain should not be.

“Christ! Watch it with that thing!” Geoff shouts as he cringes away automatically. Blaine stops what he’s doing long enough to give Geoff a passive stare. At least he’s concentrating if that counts for anything. It counts for very little.

“If you’re going to distract me don’t complain when it hurts,” Blaine says irritably.

“Oh my god, dude. Are you the only doctor here?” Geoff asks with eager hope.

“For you, yes,” Blaine promises. He makes a jabbing motion with his needle that makes Geoff wince and quickly rethink his decision to complain about anything Blaine is doing right now. Granted, that hadn’t been his intention in the first place. “What’s up?”

“Dude, I can’t stop drinking,” Geoff assures him firmly and he shakes his head. Now may not be the best time to discuss this with him, honestly, but Geoff doesn't exactly want to do it later, either. “It’s not gonna happen.”

“Well, it was nice meeting you,” Blaine replies. “Should I finish what I’m doing or what?”

“It’s not like that,” Geoff says rather briskly. It’s always great to know his doctor is ready to let him die at any given moment, though. Really, what a great doctor they have here. Geoff does understand the consequences of his inability to stop drinking but he seems to be the only one. “I haven’t been sober for a long time, man.”

“I could tell by the way you’re dying,” Blaine answers in a way Geoff doesn’t appreciate even remotely.

“Look you little asshole, the last time I stopped drinking I thought I had killed my friends, okay?” Geoff snaps harshly and he has to remind himself not to move too much while Blaine works. “And this isn’t some cutesy ‘Geoff gets really dumb and incompetent when he’s sober’ thing, either. I- fuck it. Nevermind.” He had already been planning on talking to Burnie and Gus to bypass everything about this situation. They will know better than anyone that this is for everyone’s benefit. The fact that this is even an issue to begin with is ridiculous.

“You should talk to Rwby,” Blaine says after a moment of silence. "I'll be done here in a minute and you can have some privacy."

"Rwby?" Geoff snorts. "Aren't you the fucking doctor here?"

"I'm just the general doctor," Blaine answers with a bit of scoff. "All the mental stuff goes through Rwby anyways. Most people are just more comfortable talking to me."

"Is it bad that I trust a robot more than I trust you?" Geoff sighs.

"She's not a robot," Blaine assures him as if it even matters. Geoff really doesn't care _what_ she is. "She's a program. She can explain what's happening to you better than I can. Answer all your dumb questions and whatever."

"Can she tell me why you're a fucking dick?" Geoff inquires shortly.

"Hey," Blaine says indignantly as he frowns a bit. To his benefit, he doesn't take his eyes off his work. Geoff isn’t sure if talking to a machine is really going to solve his problem but Rwby has already given him a few helpful tips since he’s been here so he doesn’t see why he can’t give it a shot. As he understands it, she probably already knows a lot of things about Geoff that he’s not too keen on sharing with anyone else now or ever.

Supposedly having everything he needs now, Blaine withdraws his needle, pinches together the hole he’s made in Geoff’s abdomen and slaps a bandage like material over it to hold him together. The numbing gel already applied to the area leaves little for Geoff to complain about even if he’d like to just to give Blaine as difficult of a time as possible. He watches as Blaine gathers up a few of his things and the sample he’s taken before hoisting his bag onto his shoulder and plucking off his rubber gloves.

“I’m gonna get this down to the lab,” he explains shortly. “You can talk to Rwby from here or your own room if you want.” As nice as Geoff’s temporary room is, he wants very much to keep this between him and Rwby. Then again, Rwby will probably share this information with pretty much anyone that asks so that’s nice. After Blaine leaves, Geoff takes a moment to peel his bandage off a little and check the small laceration for himself.

“I wouldn’t do that,” Rwby alerts immediately.

“Knowing what I know about you guys, I’d prefer to make sure you haven’t fucking stuck something in me,” Geoff assures her as he examines himself. He thinks he would have been able to tell if Blaine had done anything besides what he said he would do but at the same time, Geoff isn’t sure enough to not check nor is he sure enough to be confident in his check. He supposed it doesn’t matter regardless.

“We only tag employees at their request," Rwby promises. Geoff isn't sure how much of that he believes. Republica doesn't seem like the ideal place to put his trust when he knows they'll do whatever they need to in order to get what they want. Not having much choice, though, Geoff presses the bandage back on. He supposes he's going to have to be unconscious for the transplant anyways and if Blaine really wanted to tag him, he'd do it then. As sure as he is that they'll give him the option to be awake for his surgery, there's no way in hell Geoff's going to take it.

"You've been listening?" Geoff asks and he's not really sure where to look so he just glances in the vague direction of up.

"Yep!" Rwby replies. She's probably always listening. There's definitely no privacy around here. Geoff isn't certain how to voice his problem especially to a computer that likely already knows his problem. Fortunately, Rwby goes ahead and gives him a hand. "Why do you think you can't stop drinking?"

"You know what happened, don't you?" Geoff says shortly. "You probably heard it from Burnie or Gus. I just don't feel- right when I'm sober." Not to mention he's drank for so long, it's going to be hard to just suddenly stop. He's so used to always having a drink now, so use to operating while intoxicated. He can't just drop it.

"I understand," Rwby agrees delicately. "It's perfectly normal not to be comfortable with your raw state. Many agents have a hard time accepting who they are at first."

"Don't do this," Geoff groans. "I'm not a fucking kid, you know. There's something seriously fucked up about me and I don't need you telling me it's normal. I just need you to tell Blaine and whoever else that I need alcohol to function." If she understands, then she understands that he has nothing to talk about.

"Well, I can't do that for starters," Rwby assures. "And I'm not trying to make you feel better. More than eighty percent of agents are uneasy with their disassociation when they arrive here. I think that's more than enough to make it normal. Living amongst average people forces your perspective and makes you believe things that aren't true."

"No, see, this is what I'm talking about. I'm not 'disassociated' or whatever. I'm a monster, okay? Do you understand that?" Geoff huffs sourly. There's nothing to talk about. Not with Jack, not with Rwby, and definitely not with anyone else. He knows what he's talking about better than anyone else does. He doesn't _need_ to explain himself.

"I do," Rwby answers gladly. "But you're not. It's easy to feel that way due to the environment you grew up in. People don't tend to take kindly to those unable to conform to them. Your affliction, from what information I have, seems to be attention and your solution is violence. Paired with having a hard time empathising and sympathising with others, you were treated harshly."

"Holy shit, can you talk like a normal person _please_?" Geoff sighs as he crosses his arms defensively. He can say right now he doesn't like what he thinks she's saying. His childhood was fine and has nothing to do with this. How would she even know?

"What didn't you understand? I can take you through it," she insists. This sounds like it's going to be a long discussion that Geoff isn't too keen on. He considers just dropping it now but ultimately decides against it.

"Affliction?" Geoff repeats questioningly. "I don't hate attention."

"No, no," Rwby says quickly. "An affliction is a reason for you to disassociate. By itself, it's really quite harmless. However, when aggravated or suddenly agitated, it can create a fierce reaction."

"I'm not disassociated, though," he argues again. It's becoming clear she's not listening to him even remotely.

"Oh, you are," she replies. "You try to cure it with booze but that only masks it, though." That's not exactly wrong, Geoff guesses. He's masking something but it's not that. Instead of humoring this, though, he moves on.

"Why would I disassociate if I want attention?" Geoff asks blandly as he tries to poke holes in her reasoning. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Probably from the way you grew up. You must have learned from a young age that your neglectful parents would pay attention to you if you weren't like everyone else," Rwby explains. There's a sharp jab in Geoff's heart that doesn't want to acknowledge she's right. It wasn't like that, though. His parents weren't _that_ neglectful. Sure, he knew they tended to pay more attention to him if he either over excelled or extremely under achieved but that's normal, right?

"Which again," she continues. "By itself is harmless. You would have grown out of it. However, your solution made that impossible without outside help. By learning that hurting other people or destroying things you personally didn't see the importance of, you effectively separated yourself from everyone else. Which, of course, lets you continue to hurt people without a second thought." Geoff has no idea what he's supposed to say to this. She's wrong, of course. She's ridiculously wrong. He didn't do that at all! He thought about things! Sometimes. Occasionally. Next to never. He'd never hurt his boyfriends, though, and that has to count for something, right?

"Obviously, this also explains your 'heart on your sleeve' love life and polyamorous nature. You want lots of attention from as many sources as possible. It makes sense that you'd gravitate towards other violent behaviour; people who'll praise you for what you already know. While drunk Geoff prefers positive attention, however, I'm guessing sober Geoff is indifferent and will happily accept positive or negative attention." Jesus Christ, she just keeps going. How can she be serious right now? This is bullshit. Geoff holds his forehead with one hand like it'll hide him from this stupidity.

"The main problem you face, to my knowledge, is you're unable to ideally decide, or care, what is appropriate. Injuring your friends was in all likelihoods an accident caused by you not understanding what they're reactions would be. You are significantly into your disassociation, but it shouldn't be too late to help you understand your unique needs. We can help you learn to control yourself and connect properly with your partners," Rwby assures happily. Geoff is flabbergasted above all else and speechless in a close second. If she's waiting for him to say something, it doesn't happen.

"Theoretically, sobriety shows a base increase in your attention span, memory, reflexes, and overall thought process. It will be difficult, especially factoring in your violent default, but I believe it's worth the effort," she informs in a pleasant tone like this whole conversation has been fruitful. Finally, Geoff shakes his head.

"I'm going to end up hurting my boyfriends. Or worse," he murmurs. Regardless of what she says, nothing is worth that; not the way sober Geoff could, and most likely would, hurt them.

"Probably," Rwby answers without hesitation. "It's likely you'll lose romantic interest in them, as well. However, since you're still technically aware right now, once you've stabilized, those feelings should return."

"Uh, hell no?" Geoff says immediately. That can't happen. They'd come hate him. Hell, he'd hate himself. That 'should' definitely doesn't make him feel great, either. What if she's wrong? "I'm definitely not doing it, then. Not if there's a chance they'll leave."

"Probability of that is low to zero," she promises. "Judging by my information, they're ready for anything you throw at them and will be willing to do anything to help you get better. They love you." Geoff glances up a bit, still lacking anything to look at but satisfied with the gesture. She's just a computer, how could she possibly know?

"My records of it are poor, but I believe you, as well as the others, witnessed a dramatic shift in Ryan's dissociation after his paranoia breakdown. That is similar to what you'll be going through and if you can love Ryan after seeing him through that, then they can love you," Rwby assures warmly. "Please. Trust your datemates. They want what's best for you."

"I- no way, man. What if they don't like the new me?" he insists. Sometimes he's still surprised they like him now if he's honest with himself. It was different with Ryan. They hadn't known him before. This is the Geoff they know and love, to suddenly be different- they would lose interest.

"You're not changing, Geoff," Rwby answers. "You're healing. Your sobriety will not affect your overall nature and once stable, you will likely find yourself not much different than you are now. In fact, I strongly believe they will like you more." Geoff isn't sure he believes that. She's just telling him what he wants to hear. The answer is still no, but now Rwby's given him a lot to think about. He doesn't think that'll change his mind and he's even less sure if Rwby is telling him the truth. Surely him being sober would benefit Roosterteeth more than himself. Then again, he can't even remember being honest to god sober.

"Can I ask you something?" Geoff inquires after a few moments.

"Course!" Rwby agrees. "Anything!"

"The others," Geoff says vaguely. "Are they- disassociated?" There's a pause where she doesn't answer and it gives the impression that she's thinking. She's a computer, though, she shouldn't need to think, right?

"Yes," is the final response. "They are."

"I guess you can't tell me more than that or anything?" he assumes.

"I can," she says. "Your datemates have allowed sharing between the six of you freely." Yeah, Geoff recalls agreeing to something like that. He thinks that maybe he needs to make a small correction on it, though. Then again, maybe it's better he didn't. He's hiding things, yeah, but he doesn't want to make it obvious he's hiding anything.

"What was it? Affliction and solution? What are theirs?" Geoff asks curiously.

"Ryan's is illness and anger. Jack's is friendliness and affection. Gavin's is intelligence and boredom. Michael's is temperament and fear," Rwby lists orderly. These words end up meaning little to Geoff considering he's not even completely sure what an affliction and solution are. To some degree it's interesting, though, and he thinks he'll talk to Rwby more about it later.

"What about Ray? Can you tell me his?" Geoff questions mostly just to sate his own curiosity.

"Ray's affliction is apathy," Rwby tells and she stops without any hint of continuation.

"What about his solution?" Geoff has to press.

"No known solution."

\- x -

It's simple; give Ray the box, go back to his apartment. If Ray decides he wants to talk now, great. If not, Ryan isn't planning on it anyways. He wants to give Ray his stuff back first and foremost. It's not even a peace offering. It is Ray's stuff, after all. He can't offer a peace offering of his own things. Even knowing Ray probably isn't going to be too fond of seeing him, Ryan takes the half full box to the door of room 505. It's possible he's not even home right now.

As it is, Ryan has no way of telling. When he taps on Ray's door, all the options are greyed out. He can't knock, he can't leave a message, and it won't even offer to let Ray know he was here. This is pretty understandable considering Ray's recent feelings toward him. Instead he goes ahead and knocks the traditional way, being sure to shake the door enough so that it won’t absorb the sound. These doors were certainly not made for knocking. After a few moments with no real way of telling if anyone is home or if Ray can even hear him, Ryan knocks again, louder.

The door cracks open just enough for Ryan to see Ray’s cold expression glowering out at him from the dark room. It’s entirely possible Ray had been sleeping. Ryan hadn’t considered that, honestly. He’s forgotten that Ray is actually quite a lucrative sleeper when he’s not around five people who may at any moment decide they don’t want him around anymore. Ray doesn’t greet him in any way; no ‘hey’ or ‘what do you want’ or ‘go the fuck away’. This is likely because it’s all clearly painted on his face.

“Uh, did I wake you?” Ryan offers faintly, an attempt at friendly conversation.

“Dude, what the fuck?” Ray answers shortly, annoyed and not in any mood to humor Ryan.

“I just wanted to give you some of your stuff back,” Ryan assures him passively. When he tries to hand the box over, though, Ray doesn’t so much as act like he’s going to take it nor does he break his unwavering stare.

“I'm good,” Ray says. He doesn't even think about it. He certainly shows no interest in finding out what's in the box.

“They're your things,” Ryan reminds him pointedly. “You left them in my room.” He doubts Ray even knows what's in the box which, admittedly, may be contributing to the problem. Or maybe he knows exactly what's in it and he really doesn't want any of it back.

“So throw it out,” is Ray’s simple solution. Ryan can't explain how much he can not do that.

“I don’t want to throw it out,” he assures sourly. “It’s _your_ stuff.”

“Dude, I’m just gonna throw it away,” Ray promises coldly. Yeah, Ryan could have guessed that’s what would happen but if that’s what Ray wants to do, then fine. Ryan isn’t going to just toss it out, though. It's not his stuff.

“Just take it, please,” Ryan insists. Ray doesn’t offer a reply but he attempts to close his door again. A flame lights up in Ryan. Angrily, he quickly grabs the edge of the door, preventing Ray from closing him out with brute strength. “What’s your fucking problem? I'm just trying to fix things between us. You’re acting like you’re blameless in this.”

“Get the fuck away from my door, Ryan,” Ray snaps harshly. He doesn't fight Ryan over the door but he makes it all too clear that Ryan isn't in a safe, or smart, spot. Ryan knows that.

“No,” he bites back. “You lied to me for weeks- _months_ , and you had no damn reason to. You had known from the beginning that Burnie wanted to offer Geoff a job, don’t fucking lie and say you didn’t, but no, you chose to manipulate us for your precious score. You're not exactly an angel in this situation, either. You could at least talk to me instead of this avoiding bullshit."

“Don’t,” Ray says plainly as he shakes his head. “Just don’t Ryan. You know if I would have come up to you and fucking told you Burnie wanted you back at Roosterteeth, you would have chased me out of there like the fucking coward you are. You _never_ trusted me, Ryan. You never even gave me the benefit of the doubt. I never did anything to make you distrust me and you still fucking tried to shoot me. No explanation, no warning, no nothing.”

“I-” It’s too easy to forget. Ryan knows he’s right but at the same time, it’s a lot more complicated than Ray’s making it seem. It was more than just the two of them. Ryan has people he cares about that he needs to take care of above everything else. “I would have heard you out, Ray.”

“Who’s the liar now?” Ray snaps back. “What did you do when you saw me again after all those years? You ran, Ryan. You ran just like you always have. And then what? You threatened me? You were terrified of your fucking new boyfriends' well beings because of me? What did I do to deserve that, huh? You know what, you’re a fucking hypocrite. How long did you lie to me? How long did you pretend nothing was wrong? That everything you did was for both of our benefits? How many times could you have _said_ _something_ and instead waited until the last minute to pull your gun on me?”

“I was different then, Ray,” Ryan assures bitterly. “I didn’t know how to deal with things.” They'd been over this already. Ray may have been lying but Ryan hadn't. He had apologised; he had explained himself. Surely Ray understands that.

“Just like you’re different now?” Ray reminds venomously. “Just like you attacked me out of the blue without even bothering to consider if everything was what it seemed like? Remember that, Ryan? Or did you forget that I never had anything but your and your new fucking playmates' best interest in mind?”

“And I’m trying to make up for it!” Ryan shouts. “I know we’ve had some misunderstandings and I’m trying to fix that but you won’t listen to me!”

“Man, nothing you do is going to make up for this,” Ray assures him. “I’ve given you so many second chances, Ryan, and I’m fucking tired. I’m tired of you. I’m tired of you treating me like shit. I’m definitely tired of whatever bullshit you’re trying to pull with whatever this is.” He gestures pointedly to the box Ryan is holding. It’s hard for Ryan to find words. He wants to explain himself, or make excuses, or apologise, he’s not really sure anymore, but his words jumble up before they even leave his mouth. It’s made so much worse by Ray just standing there, waiting for him to say something. He knows he's been wrong, worse than wrong, and he'll be the first to admit it but he's honestly trying to make up for it now.

“I-” is all Ryan manages to get out before Ray’s attention is elsewhere.

“Call pending; Tina,” Rwby announces from inside Ray’s room. Ray glances in slightly before looking back to Ryan again.

“You done?” he asks scathingly. “I don’t need to take this but I don’t want to talk to you so, peace out, yo.” Ryan doesn’t have anything to say and he’s left to stand there as Ray closes the door on him. Ray legitimately hates him. Worse than that, Ray thinks Ryan had never trusted him and that’s not even remotely true. Ryan had self destructed at a bad time, that’s all. Then again, every little problem always seems to be a ‘that’s all’. If Ray never loves him again, that’ll be fine, but he can’t leave things at this.

Ryan looks down to the box he’s been left holding, unsure of what to do with it now. For a moment, he considers simply leaving it here to let what happen with it will, but ultimately ends up returning to his room with it. He can’t throw it away. It’s junk, it’s old, and it's mostly meaningless, but it's still Ray's.

Maybe he does just need to let it go.

\- x -

Ryan doesn't quite feel up to doing anything physically straining today but he makes himself anyways, or tries to at least. It's not going so hot. The group of them, save Jack busy with his own check up, clutter around a private section of the gym for a milder exercise than what they'd do on the training floor. A lot of it is simply to give Rwby some data to work with from which she'll be able to round out their lopsided skills and sharpen their specialties. For Ryan, it's more of a refresher.

"Michael, please do not tuck your thumbs like that," Rwby says and Michael stops punching his weight bag to check his fists. He adjusts slightly under this scrutiny and rolls his wrists. "Better! If I could offer some suggestions, as well."

"Depends on the suggestion," Michael scoffs back but doesn't make a solid refusal. They're all learning pretty quickly that Rwby is here entirely for their comfort. If they don't want her around, then she won't be, but as far as Ryan knows, they all like her. Already Ryan has caught Gavin asking her dumb questions. It's kind of nice because that means he's not asking them dumb questions.

"You swing too wide, it leaves you vulnerable to counter strikes," Rwby insists. She projects an image on one of the walls and automatically Gavin drops everything he's doing to go see what's happening. The video of Michael's swings plays slowly, glowing red spots pointing out all of the places open for striking. "By closing up your stance, you will have a greater defense without losing any power."

Rwby plays the reel forward at real time and a series of numbers decorate the video with every blow given. These numbers, while not nonsensical, are hard to follow. It's mostly superfluous, though, and while some agents prefer it, there are better ways. Ryan approaches the little gathering just as Gavin poses his curiosity.

"What's with all the numbers and shite?" he inquires.

"It's like damage output, yeah?" Michael says as he examines the image with some confusion himself.

"Essentially," Ryan assures with a slight nod. "Some mathematical jargon. Rwby, could you use my old format for this?"

"Certainly," Rwby agrees gladly. The obscure numbers are replaced with something a little easier to understand. Instead of compiling all the info into a few lines of math, it's presented more like a game; displaying Michael's base strength, the weight bag's defence, and 'hit points'.

"This is cool as dicks, man," Geoff murmurs as he joins them with clear interest. Ryan nods. He's always held a certain fondness for the system in Roosterteeth especially when it came down to things like this. Ryan liked to consider himself a good fighter but Phyllis had helped him go beyond that.

"Oh! Me next!" Gavin insists. Michael's video shimmies away to be replaced with one for Gavin. The longer they're here, the more help Rwby should be which is good since they, unfortunately, plan on being here a while. The video for Gavin has a lot less rhythm than Michael's.

"I have no idea what's going on here," Rwby admits. "Where did you learn your combat skills, Gavin?" Obviously a little offended, Gavin pulls a face.

"In SIS! I was great!" he promises defensively.

"Did you retain _anything_ they taught you?" Rwby accuses scathingly.

"Oi! Hey! Calm down! I'm just a little rusty, that's all," Gavin insists. Ryan's sure to some degree this is true, there was never the need for a lot of hand to hand in the crew, but there's never any telling with Gavin. He had managed to fend off his buddy Dan fairly well but never seemed to be able to stop his muggers.

"You swing like you're fighting invisible bees," Rwby says and both Geoff and Michael break down into ugly laughter. Gavin puffs his cheeks out unhappily. "My suggestion to you is hope you never get in a fight."

"What about me?" Geoff prompts once he's composed himself a little. Rwby moves on with everyone's interest in mind. The footage for Geoff is significantly better than for the other two. Unlike Michael or Gavin, Geoff has good form and solid blows, each one doing a fair amount of damage from the go get. As he goes on, though, he gradually hits harder and more accurately, shaving off more and more health from the seeming endless health the weight bag has.

"Your momentum seems to be off a little," Rwby comments. "You fall out of rhythm ridiculously easy." Proving this concept shows Geoff's damage returning back to its base and a bright red spot where Geoff breaks pattern. This happens to be due to his shoulder and Geoff rolls it idly. It's probably not something he notices at the time.

"As of now, I have no suggestions," Rwby says. "I will let you know when I have some, though. I need more content for my calculations."

"Oh, do Ryan," Gavin instructs eagerly.

"Don't do me," Ryan replies automatically. Rwby brings up his footage anyways. Of course, his is a lot less interesting considering she decides to bring up the video of him hanging tiredly on a weight bag. To his benefit, he seems to be slowly suffocating it somehow.

"My suggestion is get some sleep Ryan, seriously," Rwby scoffs. Yeah, that sounds pretty nice right now. Ryan rubs the back of his head a little but doesn't make any committal statements to this. He'll get some sleep, that's no concern, it's just when that is the question. Geoff stretches himself out a bit before resting his hands on his back.

"I could go for a nap myself," Geoff agrees. "Let's grab some food and call it a day."

"It's like ten in the bloody morning," Gavin points out. " _I_ wanna see the labs."

"Then go see the fucking labs, I don't care," Geoff scoffs. "Ryan and I are going to eat, then nap." Ryan clearly doesn't have a choice here. He does need the sleep, though, so he can see why.

"I'm coming with you, boi," Michael assures gladly. Unlike Geoff and Ryan, they're full of energy and probably red bull. Or mostly red bull. Either way, there's plenty around for them to do and thus Ryan sees his nap being fruitful. When they leave the gym, Michael and Gavin go one way while Ryan and Geoff go the other. Can they get into a lot of trouble on their own? Absolutely. Will they? _Absolutely_.

Still, Ryan doesn't commit much thought to it, instead focusing on getting something in his stomach and then getting to bed. He's tired enough that he's sure he'll be out like a light immediately. Between the two of them being tired and honestly not having much to discuss at the moment, he and Geoff wander down to the cafeteria with minimum and aimless chatting. Somewhere between the gym and the cafeteria, Geoff grabs his hand without Ryan really noticing. Complaining is the furthest thing from Ryan’s mind, of course. It’s kind of nice actually considering it’s been a while since they’ve had some time like this.

They grab some food from the wide variety offered up and find a table to laze at. Like always, the dining room is really too big to ever be crowded and the soft hum of people mingling isn’t enough to be particularly bothersome in any way. It isn't until Geoff snaps his fingers in front of Ryan's face that he realises he's staring. Ryan blinks a bit back into focus as Geoff glances over his shoulder to view what has caught Ryan's subconscious attention.

Ray, of course. Ray laughing and smiling with someone still not Ryan. She's pretty, Ryan thinks and remembers that Ray has always had a preference for ladies anyways. Geoff puts a hand on his shoulder affectionately and gives him a bit of a shake.

"Come on," he murmurs. "Let's go." To this, Ryan can't argue. He's a lot more tired than he wants to admit and right now, the sleep will do him good. With food in their bellies, the pair of them traverse the halls and elevators to get back to their rooms. Gus has assured them that their shared apartment is ready whenever they are but strongly suggests that they hold off until they've finished their introduction into Roosterteeth. Ryan supposes this is in case they decide they don't want to work together but he doesn't see that happening.

For now, they head for Ryan's room, warm and dim and perfect for napping. Ryan takes his shoes off at the door while Geoff takes his shirt off and freshens himself up a bit at the sink from his workout. With a heavy flump, Ryan tosses himself onto his bed and exhales contently. His dreams had stopped the moment he was back in Republica. For this, Ryan isn't sure if he's grateful or not.

Geoff joins him after a few moments, sitting on the edge of the bed and running a hand along Ryan's side. He slips his fingers under the edges of his shirt to pull it up and urge Ryan to take it off. Ryan lifts himself up enough to allow Geoff to tug it off and toss it onto the edge of the dresser. With a few nudges and pushes, he rolls the pliant Ryan onto his side so Geoff can be the big spoon. Ryan doesn't really mind. Geoff's tattooed arms wrapped around his chest are comforting and warm.

Ryan's asleep in only a few minutes and while he wouldn't describe it as restful, it's something. Even his once 'check your surroundings every fifteen minutes' habit hasn't returned and he sleeps without disruption. He's only finally awaken by the soft buzzing alerting him that there's someone at the door despite having set his door to snooze. Drearily, he lifts his head a little to squint in the door's direction. Geoff remains blissfully asleep beside him, completely unbothered by everything.

"Visitor; Blaine," Rwby informs. What does Blaine want now of all times? Geoff is awake all of a sudden, sitting bolt upright and half conscious in a single movement. Ryan lets out a tired breath.

"I'm not here," Geoff says plainly.

"I know you're here, Geoff," Blaine announces over the speaker.

"What did you do, Geoff?" Ryan groans as he grabs the edge of the blanket and attempts to curl back into his warm space. It's not him Blaine wants, after all.

"Geoff is not supposed to leave the hospital wing until his surgery in case of sudden liver failure. He's also not supposed to be physically training, but I let that slide," Rwby explains. Ryan turns over his shoulder to give Geoff a disapproving look.

"Don't look at me like that," Geoff scoffs. "Oh what? I'm suddenly going to go through liver failure now? I don't think so."

"Geoff," Ryan sighs tiredly. "Are you trying to stress us out or do you really just not care?"

"Stress you out? I have to stop drinking!" Geoff complains. "I think the least I can do is not be confined to a fucking hospital wing."

"Geoff's coming, Blaine. Hold on a minute," Ryan says and waves a hand at Geoff to leave.

"Gross," Blaine replies.

"Traitor," Geoff huffs and Ryan feels the bed move as he climbs out. Whether or not Geoff feels like he needs to go, he has to go. Better safe than sorry, after all. Just in case whatever drunk super powers he has starts wearing off as his body realises its not getting anymore alcohol, it will be better for him to be near the clinic.

"Traitor for money," Ryan agrees sleepily. "Any ol' song will do."

"I was gonna suck your dick and everything," Geoff mumbles as he pulls his clothes back on.

"Mm hm," yawns Ryan. "Have fun in therapy, Geoff."

\- x -

"Flynt!" Gavin shouts both because he's excited and because she probably wouldn't be able to hear him if he didn't. Lindsay lets the rottweiler off her leash so she can run into Gavin's open arms which she does and promptly bowls him over. Gavin laughs enthusiastically, rubbing the creatures heavy neck and floppy ears gladly as his face is covered in slobber.

"Aw, who's a good girl? Who's a good girl?" Gavin asks in a false voice and Flynt licks his face sloppily. Jack isn't entirely sure why Gavin got so attached to the dog but he supposes it's fine if it makes him happy. He approaches Lindsay as Michael crouches beside Gavin and Flynt.

"Good girl?" Michael repeats. "Gavin, she let Ridley get away and nearly got you killed. Twice." Gavin pauses for a moment, looking at Michael then to Flynt as if these things hadn't occurred to him at all.

"She lead Kerry into traffic four times," Lindsay says and she gestures to Kerry pulling some of his stuff off the plane. "And let a mugger into his apartment." Gavin stares at Flynt for a long few seconds and she stares back before he's busting into a wide grin.

"You're a good girl! Yes you are! You're a good girl!" Gavin assures her happily. He rolls around on the floor without a care, wrestling with the big, teddy bear like mutt. When he finally gets to his feet, he's out of breath but his face isn't any less excited. Flynt pushes herself against his legs happily.

"Vet says she is partially deaf but other than that, she's in good health," Lindsay promises. While this isn't bad news, it's not Jack's top priority. What they were going to do with a care dog, he still doesn't know. It seems weird for them to just keep a pet for the sake of having a pet.

"What about the city?" Jack asks. With Lindsay and Steffie here now, that left no one to take care of what they had learned to call home. He thinks it doesn't matter that much, it's unlikely they'll pick up a permanent residence after finishing their training here, but he'd like to know all the same.

"Griffon says she's sending someone down to handle things while Geoff's away. Sounds like one of her FBI buddies," Lindsay explains. "Worse comes to worse, they'll be easy to pick off if we want the city back." It wasn't really their city, anyways. It was Griffon's and Geoff was just watching it for her. Jack knows now that the only reason he was even doing that was because Griffon was tired of him trying to be a trophy husband and was starting to get concerned if his health. Among other things. Jack thinks about the sober and annoyed Geoff moping around medical wing with Ryan and nearly laughs.

"Oh!" Gavin says suddenly. "You know who'd be glad to see you? Ray." He speaks exclusively to Flynt but Lindsay gives Jack a curious quirk of the brow. "Let's go find Ray, Flynt! Let's go!"

"Gavin," Jack barks. "For everyone's benefit, don't you dare bring that dog anywhere near Ray."

"No, no," Michael insists. "Please god go see Ray. I want to see this happen."

"Michael, don't," Jack instructs blandly. Gavin pouts a little as he looks down at Flynt sat on his feet. Like always, she only ever seems to know half of what's going on and this is likely due to her deafness. She still perks up her ears when she hearts her name, though, or at least what they've been calling her.

"I'm going to go help Steffie and Kerry sign their contracts," Lindsay says with a knowing grin. What she could possibly know is beyond Jack. She turns a bit before speaking to the two unpacking, "just leave your stuff there. Rwby will handle it."

"I'll tag along," Michael comments. "In case you need help or something. I can, you know, laugh." What Jack would have originally guessed of them simply catching up seems not entirely likely. Knowing that Lindsay had been working for Republica the whole time has skewed some of Jack's assumptions about her. If she and Michael want to gossip together, though, he's not going to complain. Michael's a decent negotiator and if they're going to find out anything useful about Roosterteeth, Ryan or Ray, it's going to come from her.

When they've gone, totting behind them one Kerry and Steffie, it's just Jack, Gavin, and the weirdly adorable Flynt. She doesn't seem to need to be on a leash, more than happy to follow Gavin wherever he goes, but Gavin clips her up anyways. Jack is grateful for it. He doesn't want her wandering off in this place.

"Are you sure we can't go find Ray?" Gavin inquires. Jack gives him a half look.

"Yes I'm sure," Jack promises. "I'm pretty sure aggravating Ray's cynophobia isn't going to earn Ryan any brownie points." While Gavin is looking for any reason to talk to Ray, Jack is reluctant. They're not exactly on great terms and it's obvious Ray isn't open to discussion about Ryan. Gavin's well meant intentions would only irritate the situation.

"No way, Ray bloody loves her! I'm not even joking," Gavin insists. Jack gives him a look of disbelief. There's no way he's going to fall for that. "Well, he _likes_ her, I'm pretty sure."

"Uh huh," Jack replies. "Let's just go for a walk, Gavin. Flynt could probably use the fresh air after being on the plane so long."

"Yeah, alright," Gavin sighs. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope everyone is ready for an obscene amount of dialogue and tragic back stories because that's what you're getting enjoy


	3. I'm Worried

On the bright side, as soon as they assessed Geoff to be capable of making an acceptable decision about his well being and were certain there wasn't any alcohol in his system, they popped him full of pills and replaced his liver.

On the down side, Geoff is sober.

Ryan isn't saying that's a bad thing, really, there's just something about Geoff that's off. He's certain he's not the only one that feels it, either. Though he would like to say that this is only because they're not used to Geoff being sober, Ryan doesn't think that's the case. Rwby has already warned them that Geoff will be going through a difficult time and that if they wanted to help they needed ignore his demands for attention and help him abstain from booze.

It sounds easy enough.

"Ugh, this is the worse," Geoff complains amidst the private longue they currently occupy. He slumps forward onto the coffee table and buries his head in his arms. It is kind of hard to not feel bad for him. His mood swings violently from miserable to high energy and back again at a moments notice with no obvious triggers. They manage to ignore him for the most part by concentrating on their Halo game of capture the flag.

"They did tell you to stay in the medical bay for a few days but you didn't want to listen," Jack points out.

"My liver is so clean," Geoff groans loudly. "Too clean." No one says anything. He's trying to goad them into letting him have a drink and it's not going to happen. Clearly annoyed that this feeble didn't work, Geoff sits up again suddenly and crosses his arms over his chest irritably.

"Here, Geoff," Ryan says as he passes his controller over. "It'll help you take your mind off things." With a sour huff, Geoff snatches it from him to pick up where Ryan has left off. Honestly, Ryan wasn't that invested in the casual game anyways. He picks up his tablet from where he's stashed it under his thigh to browse through instead. Though he'd never been one to keep up with Roosterteeth news before, he finds himself relatively interested now that he’s back.

He's interested that Ray's leaving tomorrow for a mid star solo mission.

Geoff side eyes him when Ryan sighs a little but he doesn't say anything right off the bat. It seems like Geoff coordinates his words a lot more carefully now. Ryan had always known Geoff to have a silver tongue when he wanted but now it occurs to him that Geoff's silver tongue, in fact, may just be a knife razor sharp and ready to slice.

"Is it just me or is this game a lot slower than I remember?" Geoff murmurs with a stunning lack of amusement and he tosses the controller onto the tabletop to signify his loss of interest. This probably isn't that unusual for what he's going through but they're going to need to find something to distract him with eventually. It should help if he's not thinking about the fact that he isn't drinking right now all the time.

"Alright! Who has the fucking rocket launcher?" Michael snaps and in reply, Gavin lets out a squeak of a giggle. Despite not being able to hold Geoff's attention, the others remain contently wound up in it. Ryan continues to scan through his tablet quietly, checking various stats and statements Rwby has listed for him, up until Geoff wraps an arm around his shoulder. He starts leaving little kisses against Ryan's throat like he's just trying to find something to occupy himself with and Ryan tilts his head a bit to expose more of his neck to the activity. Geoff could certainly find worse things to amuse himself with.

"God dammit, Gavin! Same team!" Jack yelps. At least some things never change. The background noise of them yelling is enough to drag Ryan's attention through the mud and when Geoff starts those little nips that get him hot around the collar, he's effectively spaced out. Though he's been sleeping well enough lately, his insomnia hasn't allowed him much of it. He keeps finding better things to do and when he does finally get to sleep, it's never for very long. He thinks he could probably go to sleep like this. Just a quick nap.

Unfortunately, he doesn't think that very long. Geoff suddenly bites him hard and without warning leading Ryan to flinch away with a low hiss. That _really_ isn't necessary right now. This quick change in momentum wakes Ryan up real good. He glances at Geoff questioningly and somewhat irritably with the relaxing mood yanked out from under him. When Geoff does it again, _harder_ , Ryan attempts to jerk away.

"Geoff," he rasps shortly. "What the fuck?" In response to this Geoff grabs his face roughly to turn his head away and digs his teeth into Ryan's neck with force. That _hurts_! Ryan drops his tablet immediately to take a hold of Geoff's wrist with one hand and try to push him away with the other. These definitely aren't the little 'maybe they'll scar, maybe they won't' bites. Not by a long shot. These are 'I've lost my god damn mind and am now trying to take a chunk of flesh' bites.

"Ow! Shit! Get the fuck off me, Geoff!" Ryan shouts, physically having to struggle to break Geoff's vice like grip on his throat. This gets the attention of the others and startled, Jack drops everything to help ply Geoff off. When it becomes two against one, Geoff gives up easily. He releases Ryan when Jack yanks him back and when he does, his mouth is stained with blood. Ryan quickly covers the gushing bite mark on his neck with both hands to stop the bleeding.

"Geoff!" Gavin squawks in horror. Geoff looks unconcerned as he wipes his mouth on his palm and only ends up smearing the blood across his face.

"Fuck," Ryan hisses between his teeth. He stands, trying to distance himself as much as possible from Geoff, and uses his sleeve to soak up some of the excess blood before touching his fingers to it carefully. Geoff really did try to take a chunk out of him. Fortunately not near anything important but that's certainly not accidental. "What's your fucking problem, Geoff@"

"What?" is Geoff's nonchalant response. "You like it when it hurts." Wow. _Wow_.

"Are you fucking serious right now?" Michael growls out. Ryan has to remind himself that he can not punch Geoff in the face. Well he can, he totally can, but he really shouldn't. Geoff's trying to provoke him. "Look what you fucking did to his neck!"

"Yeah," Geoff says with a cocky smirk like he's proud of it. Ryan presses his teeth together hard, stiffening up his jaw and keeping his tongue in check. He needs to clean up his wound now and preferably get away from Geoff until they can both calm down. Or at least until Ryan can calm down.

"Geoff," Jack murmurs unsurely.

"It's fine," Ryan interrupts with a bittersweet tone and vinegar smile. "Geoff's right. My dick's so hard right now, you don't even know. I'm just- gonna go take care of that." Holding his neck in one hand so he doesn't bleed all over the place, Ryan leaves the room and is sure to slam the door behind him. An arrow appears on the floor immediately and he follows it to the nearest first aid kit at the end of the hall. He'd like to say that's what they're for but oddly enough, he doesn't think getting bitten by a boyfriend was one of the emergencies they had in mind when strategically placing med kits.

Careful not make it any worse, Ryan rubs a bit of antiseptic on the wound and tries to reposition the gross, loose chunk of skin before pulling a bandage over it. He grinds his teeth a little as he looks at the blood on his hands and stained into his sleeves. Ryan scoffs to himself. _You like it when it hurts_. He can't believe this. This is exactly what he was talking about when he said Republica wasn't good for them.

Definitely not eager to head back to the lounge, Ryan finds the nearest bathroom to wash himself off in. Around here no one pays him any mind, though, and he isn't bothered simply because there's a little bit of blood on his hands. It's actually a touch disappointing, really. Even after he's freshened himself up, he finds he hasn't the care to rejoin his group and instead decides to head back to his room.

It makes sense why Gus would want them to stay in their separate rooms for a while.

Ryan doesn't even realise he's past Joel until he's being called for. He's so upset right now his peripherals have basically shut off and he only has interest in paying attention to where he's going. Granted, it's likely he wouldn't have acknowledged Joel anyways. He's certain the two of them have nothing to discuss. Joel obviously thinks otherwise.

"Hey Ryan," Joel greets casually and Ryan stops mainly out of autopilot. "How are you, man?"

"I'm fine," Ryan answers shortly, not entirely enthused to be dragged into a conversation right now. While his overwhelming coldness should tell Joel he isn't in the mood for this, he feels Joel wouldn't have initiated this unless he had something on his mind. "How are you?"

"I'm good, thanks," Joel replies. He gestures to Ryan's neck a little and the faint red smear still lingering on his shirt collar and underneath the bandage. "You don't look so great, though. You sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine," Ryan repeats. Obviously Joel can't take a hint. "Look Joel, you are easily the last person I have any interest in talking to especially right now. I'm gonna go."

"I'll get to the point," Joel assures with a sudden and complete lack of care for Ryan. He'd never really cared in the first place. Ryan wouldn't mistake his attempts at unattached politeness for anything it's not.

"Please do," Ryan confirms with rising irritability.

"I heard what happened between you and Ray the other night," he informs. That's what this is about. Huh. This is going to go very badly for one of them and Ryan is already ready to put his fist through something. "You can't have Ray back, Ryan."

"What happens between me and Ray isn't any of your business, Joel," Ryan stresses out. He stiffens up his jaw in an attempt to keep himself in check. "Last time I checked, he's not even your partner. Maybe you should check your privileges."

"Look, Ryan, we both know where Ray's priorities lie and that's in his score," Joel says matter of factly. "Between me, you, and Tina, we know who's best for what he wants. He got, what, solid seventies on three star missions with you? He'll maybe get eighty-eighty fives with Tina. She's a solid agent but she won't be able to keep up with Ray. Now with me, he gets top percentiles. Ninety eights and above. We nearly perfected a no star job. That's gotta be the epitome of perfection." Ryan grinds his teeth but he smiles a smile of sharp edges and mace.

"As I heard it, you couldn't keep up with him either," Ryan comments. "You were just along for the ride. He didn't even _need_ you. Out of the three of us, Joel, _let's be honest_ , he'd sooner give Tina a chance but we all know he's better off solo. You know, it's kind of too bad you can't see how great Ray had been for you and how much he _didn't_ want you." So Joel matches his smile and it looks friendlier, softer, but these are the worse kind of lies. These are the lies that even his eyes don't betray and he laughs a little.

"I know he doesn't _need_ me," Joel assures. "That makes one of us at least. I think you're right, he doesn't need anyone. But you know what Ray is like, Ryan. No one has accepted how he is like I have. Not even you. If he's going to be alone, then he's going to be alone but if he's not, he's going to choose me. The best of a bad situation, you know."

"Does Ray know you're giving out these talks?" Ryan asks scathingly. "How'd Tina take this little chat."

"I haven't gotten around to her yet," Joel says as he ruffles his hair a bit and glances around. "Ray knows what's best for himself. Just back off, okay? That's all I'm asking."

"Asking?" Ryan snorts. "I don't care if he 'picks' you, Joel. I don't care if he picks Tina. This isn't The Bachelor. I'll say it again since you amazingly didn't comprehend it the first time; what happens between me and Ray is none of your business. Perhaps try and keep your nose out of stuff you don't understand."

"Okay, but consider this," Joel continues even though Ryan really doesn't want him to. He's about done here. "If you don't back off, it's your own fault when Ray snaps back."

"Consider it noted."

\- x -

He likes being alone. He likes the quietness and the close spaces that protect him. It's why Ray likes the snug closet where he can sit atop an old box and hide among the coats while he plays his gameboy with the volume turned off. He's learned that if he stays really quiet, not even breathing more than absolutely necessary, he can stay here until the batteries die like the most intense game of hide and seek ever. Granted, he's never really liked hide and seek.

The rustling outside causes him to pause momentarily, assuring he remains perfectly quiet and calm. Monsters can sense when he's afraid. Fortunately, he finds he's rarely afraid. Fear comes from the unknown and Ray knows exactly what's going to happen if he's found. It's the same things that always happen. The noise passes by, though, and he focuses on his game again. He knows the little angler light isn't enough to reach under the gap of the door and for now, he's safe.

At least, he thought. The door rips open violently and Ray scrambles to drop his gameboy into the pocket of one of the coats hung around him. He's pretty relieved when he manages to squirrel it away before an arm reaches in and yanks him out the closet.

"There you are!" he shouts and Ray cringes away slightly. "What have I told you? Come to me when I call for you!" The yelling makes Ray uneasy but the heavy scent of alcohol on the man's breath is even worse. It stings his eyes and when he turns his face away, he's jerked again.

"Look at me!" he barks loudly. Ray tries to pull his arm free from the tight grip that anchors him here but it does him no good. He's just too small to manage anything but some scratches and faint hits. In fact, all his effort really gets him is shaken harshly and disoriented. He blinks to try and will the dizziness away.

"I've fucking looked for you for an hour!" he yells. Ray just wants to leave. He doesn't care. He couldn’t make himself care about this even if he wanted to and he doesn’t. "This is how you killed your mother! You little monster, you're trying to kill me, too, aren't you? I fucking see right through you." With his arm not going anywhere unless he chews it off, Ray drops his weight in hopes of putting the man off balance. Again, he finds himself just too small to do anything and instead he kind of dangles lopsidedly.

"Answer me," he growls. Ray squirms a little, desperate to get out of this situation but unable to. The second he's let go he's just going to find another hiding place. This time he will pick something a little less easier to yank him out of. The man shakes him again and it hurts.

"Say something, you dangerous fucking mute!" he shouts. Ray reels back again and his arm is released. Regrettably, his throat becomes the target. The much bigger, larger hands wrap around his neck like a vice and Ray gasps. They press down and he struggles feebly.

" _Ryan, stop,_ " Ray whimpers on what air he can get down. Ryan lets him go and he drops to the floor automatically. Immediately, he doubles over on himself, tucking his arms under his chest and burying his head between them against the floor. Ray holds his neck protectively and prepares to wait it out. Ryan will lose interest in him eventually.

A hand touches his back gently causing Ray to lash out instinctively and blindly. Ryan makes a small gasp and Ray flinches in anticipation of retribution.

"Ray," Ryan says weakly. Ray dares to peek out from his cover just barely to find out what this ruse is about. At once, he scrambles away urgently. Ryan reaches for him with one hand but the other he uses to hold the gash on his throat. Blood runs down in floods, pooling against the ground and steadily but surely spreading towards Ray.

"Why Ray?" Ryan murmurs sadly. Ray moves away hurriedly, trying to flee the quickly approaching blood only to discover it's already on his hand. The hand he'd hit Ryan with is stained with blood at impact point. He stares at it wordless, afraid, before quickly trying to rub it off on his shirt. It doesn't come off, sticking to his skin like the worst kind of ink. Ryan laughs a gentle laugh and his face grows sickly pale from the blood pouring out of his neck.

"It's okay," Ryan says softly. "I forgive you. I knew what would happen." Ray reels back again when Ryan tries to reach for him and of course, Ryan pulls away. He didn't mean it. No, he did mean it. Ryan's right; he knew what would happen. Ray is just a wild animal, injured and sore and bound to bite. It's hard not to when he's only used to people hurting him. To be touched so tenderly; Ryan knew what would happen.

Cautiously, Ray reaches out with his stained hands, a tentative trial at how Ryan will react but he never finds out. Ryan doesn't move, doesn't even seem to see him anymore, and when he raises his hand it is not to Ray. A figure shadows Ray easily and masks him from Ryan's view. Ray doesn't want to move and certainly doesn't want to be seen. Instead, he only watches.

He watches Geoff offer Ryan a hand and help him to his feet. He watches Jack mend his torn throat and watches Michael wash the blood away and Gavin fix his disheveled hair. He watches Ryan forget. He'd lose interest eventually. It's only as they walk away that Ray finds the strength to get to his feet. He doesn't want Ryan to forget.

"Ryan," Ray chokes out and Ryan spares him a glance. A chain reaction triggers and they're all looking at him; staring. Ray flinches back again, draws towards the shadows but he stops himself. He steels his nerves and stones his face as he reaches out to Ryan once more.

And Ryan jerks back. He rips himself away from Ray with such horror that it makes Ray cringe. The others jump back in terror and he doesn't understand. He said it was okay. He said he understood. Wearily, Ray backs up. He brings his bloody hand back to his chest and protects himself like he always has. He protects himself with thorns and blood that screech 'keep away' because he likes being alone. He likes the quietness and the close spaces that protect him.

Ray should be used to waking up like this by now but he's not. The jagged pain in his chest gets worse by every episode. It's so bad Ray _wishes_ he was having a heart attack. He tries to even out his breathing but it doesn't work like it used to. Every in breath rips through his lungs like needles and lightning while every out breath makes him feel like he's drowning. No matter how long he holds it or how he counts, the pain only gets worse.

He's never feared for his life like he does right now. Ray reaches for his bedside table but it turns out to be further away than he thinks and he falls out of bed hard, hitting his knee at any awkward angle against the floor. The sheets go with him, tangling up around him like a constrictor weighing him down like bricks. Urgently, he grabs a hold of the drawer and yanks it open. In the process, he accidentally tears it out and its contents spill across the floor.

"Elevated heart rate detected," Rwby's voice registers so far away from him Ray feels like it's a mile away. He struggles to find the little white bottle among the mess of everything else. Something cuts his hand in the dark but Ray doesn't even give it a second thought. His limbs are numb, anyways, and if he didn't know better, he'd think they didn't belong to him.

"Please try to breathe, Ray," Rwby instructs gently. Ray ignores her. Once his medication is in hand, it's a whole other fight to get the lid off. The dark slowly fades into light and he's given the perfect view of his mangled hand. Ray gasps out in pain, being drawn to a dead stop just to be able to recollect himself again. Somewhere, he can hear Rwby trying to help him count.

When it turns out to be more difficult than really necessary to open his pill bottle, Ray cries. He can feel it in his eyes, the wet tears rolling off his cheeks and speckling the floor alongside the smears of blood, but it doesn't connect to his brain. Nothing connects to his brain. There is only the desperate, straightforward drive to _make it stop_.

"Dispensing tranquilizer gas," Rwby states but Ray has long since stopped listening. He breaks the lid off, little pieces of plastic flying off, and proceeds to spill them as well. Ray doesn't even care. Hurriedly he scoops them up, not giving two thoughts to the blood factor, and shoves them in his mouth by the handful. They stick to the inside of his throat as he tries to swallow them down dry but this is a secondary concern. Only when he's gotten them down and the pain slowly begins to subside does he bother reaching for the bottle of water laid haphazardly among everything else.

Ray gulps down several large drinks of water in quick succession before finally slouching against the edge of his bed. He's so tired. With minute interest, he examines his hand and the slivers of glass stuck in his skin. He must have shattered one of his water pipes when he tore everything across the floor. The numbing sensation is even stronger now than it was before and Ray finds that he doesn't care to do much about his injury right now. In fact, all he wants now is to go back to sleep.

He doesn't get any further than that. Ray falls unconscious where he sits and fortunately, the large amount of tranqs in his system prevent him from dreaming. Or anything else, quite honestly.

"No heart rate detected. Dispensing doctor."

\- x -

Gavin isn't really sure what to say to make anyone feel better right now. There really isn't a lot to say and he exchanges looks with Michael before glancing at Ryan again who stares at the mask in his hands with an indifferent expression. This is a ruse, though. It's pretty clear that he's upset right now, both at himself and Geoff. Ray left for a solo mission just this morning and Ryan isn't taking it to well. Honestly, though, he's more sad than angry. Gavin isn't completely sure why that is but it's better than being angry with Geoff.

Jack on the other hand, is upset over something Geoff had said earlier. If Gavin is smart, he won't be repeating it in this lifetime. Of course, Geoff is indifferent. Rwby had explained to him that Geoff is going to start going through a tough time but Gavin expected alcohol withdrawal not whatever this is. He's worried Michael may have been right and Geoff is completely different sober. It's something he just never thought about before.

Uneasy with the silence around them, Gavin tries to think up something to talk about. Preferably something that wouldn't end up about Ray or Geoff's drinking. With everyone in such a poor mood, nothing seems to be a good topic to discuss right now.

"Why'd you join Republica in the first place, Ryan?" is the question he arrives at. By the glare Michael gives him, this wasn't an appropriate topic to bring up at the moment. There's no way they could know if that's true or not without hearing it from Ryan. Ryan looks at him a bit, his expression remaining calm but he lets out a slight sigh that tells Gavin Michael is right.

"Because my other option at the time was death," Ryan answers halfly. "And I figured I owed Burnie for helping me."

"Sounds familiar," Geoff snorts. Ryan ignores him outright.

"Were you like dying or something?" Gavin inquires. While he realizes this might not be the most sensitive of topics, now he's interested and wants to know more.

"Or something," Ryan repeats. "I was on death row in Georgia. Some stuff happened." That's extremely vague for having followed the sentence 'I was on death row'. He lays his mask down and leans back a little in his chair, absently crossing his arms.

"What'd you do, then?" Gavin presses on. If Ryan is apprehensive to sharing, he doesn't show it.

"I attacked my girlfriend, set my mother's house on fire, nearly beat my best friend to death and then went on a rampage killing twenty eight people including a few of the officers trying to stop me," he says nonchalantly. To this Ryan, sure, none of that sounds _that_ bad, but to a Ryan who hadn't been with Republica or Fake AH or anything, it had to have been quite the fete.

"Yeah and Roosterteeth made you crazy," Geoff says sarcastically.

"Bloody hell, Ryan," Gavin murmurs. "Why'd you do something like that?"

"Well," Ryan sighs faintly. "I started taking medication for my insomnia but I, uh, had an undiagnosed illness under that. The meds for my sleep issue didn't get along with my symptoms and it triggered a psychotic episode fueled by my own paranoia, distrust, and narcissism. I mean, I wasn't a 'good' person before but they say I would have been fine if I hadn't tried to cure my insomnia." He glances across the room at nothing specific and wrinkles his nose a little.

"But, it was easier to throw me in jail than consider something was wrong with me. I was a threat to basically everyone, though. Honestly I probably wouldn't have even known I was sick if Burnie hadn't showed up to act as my lawyer. He helped me get better," Ryan explains.

"He cured you?" Jack questions softly.

"Not in so few words," Ryan answers with some trepidation. "But yeah, kinda. Like I said, I wasn't an A plus citizen in the first place and as long as I avoid certain drugs, there's no worry about another episode. It was more like he helped me understand. Once I realised that there was an explanation for why I felt how I did, it sort of eased some of my ‘symptoms’. I had someone to talk to that I knew understood, too."

"And so you joined Republica?" Gavin asks. Ryan shrugs a bit.

"I'd lost everything, Gavin. My home, my girlfriend, my friends, my job. Even my own mother was afraid of me. I was angry and at the time, Burnie's offer was gold," he assures. Gavin can't imagine losing everything like that not once but twice. "As much as I don't want to be here now, it was good for me then. I stopped being angry after a while but I guess my paranoia and mistrust and narcissism never really went away." He laughs a little and it rumbles his chest so softly. Gavin isn't sure what to say to this. That was a much sadder story than he anticipated. He thinks he understands some things about Ryan a little better now, though. It's no wonder he never wanted to talk about his past.

"Not to ruin this weird moment or anything," Geoff speaks out. "But that was sad as hell and now I'm sad. Let's fucking do something already. I want to fuck shit up." Gavin is glad for this abrupt end for the most part. It prevents him from having to think of something potentially dumb to say but it also effectively wraps up the question he shouldn't have asked. Honestly, Gavin is so used to Ryan being tight lipped about certain things that he didn't expect an answer. Then again, these are questions they never bothered to ask before. Some of them they were simply too afraid to ask in the beginning and as time went on, no one thought to bring it up. Ryan seems more than willing to share.

"Oh!" Gavin says suddenly, blindsided by his own idea. "Did you know they have paintball here?"

"What?" Michael answers quickly, sitting up at once. "They do? What the fuck?"

"Well," Ryan murmurs. "It's not really 'paintball'. It's just a means to train agents in weapon handling without using live ammunition."

"I'm down for some paintball," Geoff agrees gladly. This should get everyone in a better mood; get the blood pumping and everyone's energy up. Gavin hops to his feet at once and grins ear to ear.

"Let's go then!" he insists. Jack gives a slight huff but he makes no argument about not going. Of course, he's probably also going to be more than happy to let off some pent up steam. Mainly towards Geoff, but who's fault is that? They gather up like they always do and flood out of Michael's room in a single mass. Gavin makes his way to the front immediately to lead the way.

"This way, Gavin," Ryan instructs when he takes a wrong turn right off the bat. Gavin swiftly makes a U-turn. Despite Roosterteeth being huge, it's not a long trip to any destination. Between the elevators, subway system, and various short cuts, it's incredibly easy to navigate around. Not to mention Rwby who is more than glad to give step by step instructions.

With many rooms in Roosterteeth not needing windows, it's hard to say how far down they actually are. There are negative floors beneath the subway but the subway itself is not at sea level. Not that it matters much, anyways. Gavin is equally excited to enter the lobby of the 'firearm practice arena' regardless of what level they're at. A group of girls pile out of the room, spotted with paint, and Gavin manages to recognise one of them as Lindsay under the layer of red.

"Oh man! It's good to have you back," the blonde giggles between pants of air. "That was intense."

"What can I say? It's good to be back. I've been needing some more action lately," Lindsay laughs.

"Of more kind than one, am I right?" she answers with a nudge of the elbow.

"You know it," Lindsay agrees gladly. They take a moment to catch their breath and the room behind them displays a 'cleaning in progress' sign. It's only when they're wiping paint off themselves that they give any attention to anyone else.

"Oh, hey guys," Lindsay grins. She's known they were here from the beginning. There's no way she hadn't. "How are you?"

"You guys look like you'd fucking die in a gunfight," Michael notes. They are pretty heavily covered in paint. The girls look at each other a little and break out laughing.

"You guys haven't been in yet, have you?" another says humorously. "Good luck, boys."

"I'll see you guys, later," Lindsay assures as she and the others brush past to leave. The room opens up again and Gavin looks at Ryan curiously. He seems interested on other things, though. Specifically, more interested in his tablet. Gavin checks himself and is quickly reminded that he's left it in his room. Or Jack's possibly. He doesn’t remember.

"They went pretty even across the board," Ryan comments. "We're not gonna do that," he promises blandly. They might! Gavin isn't sure how this is scored or what that means so he's pretty sure they can manage that. After all, they've been in real shoot outs before.

"Are we doing teams?" Gavin inquires as he wanders into the arena. "Lads vs Gents?"

" _No_ ," Jack answers harshly, unamused by the very suggestion. This, of course, is mostly because he doesn't want to do anything with Geoff at the moment.

"That would be a little unbalanced," Ryan murmurs. "Rwby can auto balance some teams or we can just do a free for all." The room, large and paneled, currently lacks anything that would make it seem difficult. It isn't going to be much of a fight if they're all shooting each other in the open.

"Let's just do a free for all," Michael insists. "We have an odd amount of people anyways." Ryan shrugs in agreement. He uses his tablet to configure the rules and they appear on the wall for everyone to see. Free for all, level balancing, dynamic floor, no knock out rules, all guns, thirty minutes. When he's happy with this, he gestures to the wall for everyone else's approval. Gavin can guess what some of those things mean. As they all agree, Rwby accepts it.

Five rings appear around the edges of the room an equal distance away from each other and Gavin heads for the nearest one immediately. It lights up green once he's in it and a variety of equipment rotates out from behind the wall. Excitedly, he examines a handgun and the paint cartridge inside. Though he's supplied with a harness for extra guns and ammo, there is a surprising lack of safety gear. Then again, he had seen Lindsay and her friends just covered in paint.

This is probably going to hurt.

"Creating playing field," Rwby announces. Gavin looks back quickly to watch the blank floor begin to move. Panels separate and from below artificial trees and not so artificial rocks rise to the surface. Several lines pull a blanket of fake grass across the ground and the floor warps by itself, creating hills and ditches practically organic looking. Complete with a small body of water in the centre and all, Gavin would assume they were really out in the wild of he didn't know better.

Well, except the pitch white sky, that is. This is so cool.

A short buzz quickly stops Gavin from stepping out of his ring before the match begins and he hurriedly hops back in. He'll have time to explore the fake wilderness in a moment. Though he can no longer see his crew, he can still hear them well enough.

"You don't have something a little more urban, do you?" Ryan asks halfly.

"What's wrong with this?" Geoff replies. "Afraid of a little fake outside?" Though he sighs loudly, Ryan makes no further debate about it. They are used to working more in the city scape, but this will be a nice change up. Gavin's always wanted to have a gunfight in the woods. Well not really.

"Vital shots are worth ten, crippling shots are worth five, basic shots are worth three and grazes are worth one. The multipliers are found along the handles of your guns. Melee attacks are worth nothing," Rwby explains from overhead. Gavin automatically checks his pistol again to find the number engraved on the side. This one reads times one. Checking another, he finds the shotgun reads times point five. Well he knows what he's using.

"Everybody ready?" she confirms.

"Ready!" Gavin assures excitedly. He hears several echoes of agreement from around the room but they sound so far away now and he realises his mic has been cut off from the rest. That sort of makes sense considering he doesn't want to inadvertently give away his position. Once everyone has confirmed, Gavin's green safe zone disappears.

"Start!"

\- x -

Michael's not sure he's ever been this covered in paint in his life. If Lindsay and her friends were considered 'splattered', he is drenched. There are places on him that he's never going to get paint out of. Not to mention he's bruised all over his body. God, getting shot with paint hurt like a motherfucker. While he understands why they don't get protective gear, getting hit with a shotgun blast in the bare neck is not pleasant at all.

That's not to say he didn't have fun. He had to have hit Gavin at least four times in the dick. At least. Michael tries to catch his breath as he wipes the paint off his lenses with a towel he'd been offered. Next time he'll remember to wear his contacts for this. After they've all had a few minutes to relax and settle, Gavin laughs. It doesn't seem to be over anything specific but rather just overall enjoyment. Michael joins him.

"Jack, you went negative forty two," Ryan says and even he chuckles a bit. He's checking their score now. Michael isn't too sure how he did, honestly. He'd gotten some good shots off but he'd also gotten the shit shot out of him. For everyone to be even, though, that's supposedly a good thing. He still has no idea how this game works but he's already looking forward to doing it again.

"So that's a record, right?" Jack insists jokingly.

"Gavin, you went negative twenty eight," Ryan continues. "Which isn't that bad considering you both shot yourself in the leg and threw a grenade at yourself."

"I didn't _throw_ it at myself," Gavin argues loudly.

"Yeah man," Geoff agrees. "You bounced that thing right off my asshole. You should get bonus points for that or something."

"Actually, he got deducted points for poor grenade handling," Ryan assures.

"Bullocks," Gavin huffs.

"Michael, you're in the positive with seven, congratulations," Ryan says. Michael is pretty happy about this. At least he was in the green despite being covered in red.

"Geoff went twenty and I went forty three. So overall, we scored a hundred and forty. Not exactly the worse ever done," he murmurs with a content shrug. That doesn't sound that bad of a score all things considering.

"What did the girls scores?" Gavin asks curiously.

"Fourteen," Ryan answers.

"Ha! Suck it Lindsay!" Michael yips.

"The best score is zero," Ryan informs. Ah.

"I'm down for some sucking," Michael murmurs.

"Well, let's get this paint off of us first," Jack says as he looks down his arms at the sticky, red layer that coats them both. "This stuff comes off, right?"

"Yeah, a warm shower and we're good to go," Ryan assures. At least that's one problem they don't have to worry about. They head back to their rooms with pants and small talk, thoroughly exhausted from their activity. They'd only gone half an hour, but was an intense half hour. Still, Michael feels a lot of the stress has rolled off his shoulders and hopefully some of it has gone between the crew, too.

This, unfortunately, isn't entirely true. When they arrive at their rooms, Geoff immediately goes to his own while Jack and Ryan make it clear they're going to be retiring to Jack's room. Obviously this hasn't settled any of their issues, Michael hadn't thought it would, but he'd been hoping they'd put it aside long enough to get over it. Initially, Gavin follows Geoff but when he notices Ryan and Jack not joining them, he reconsiders.

Seeing what Geoff had done to Ryan's neck and hearing what he'd said to Jack, Gavin makes the wise choice of going with them instead of potentially being alone with Geoff. It's not that he thinks Geoff would purposely hurt him but with his current track record, it's probably better not to take that risk. Geoff's new behaviour seems to baffle Gavin the most.

Michael goes ahead and takes this risk. It still is Geoff and he's not going to do or say anything Michael can't handle. Unlike the others, he's perfectly content with putting his fist in Geoff's mouth. Geoff's a big fucking boy and he can take a hit especially when he's asking for it.

They exchange short good nights at the door before Gavin, Jack, and Ryan disappear into one room and Michael follows Geoff into the other. Geoff starts pulling his paint soaked clothes off on the way to the bathroom and Michael is right behind him. The soreness is already starting to set into his body and a warm shower will be so nice. Though the paint covers most of him at the moment, he can already see the outlines of bruises speckling his skin. They're all going to regret this tomorrow when they're covered in sensitive bruises. Michael laughs to himself.

It looks like he got into a very intense make out session.

Geoff starts the shower up as Michael washes his hands and glasses in the sink. Hopefully this stuff comes out of clothes because Michael is not looking forward to trying to wash this stuff out. With a small gesture of the head, Geoff motions him into the shower. It's easily big enough for the both of them and then some. If there's one thing Roosterteeth does right, it's architect.

Under the water pressure, a lot of the paint runs off immediately and colours the water around them in pink swirls. This stuff looks, and feels actually, eerily like blood. To someone not used to seeing so much blood, he can see how this would be terrifying. If anything, this is intentional and probably helps desensitize their agents to blood. Michael isn't sure how he feels about already having that down pat.

He runs his hands through his hair to dislodge the paint embedded against his skull and Geoff gives him a hand. Ryan, of course, was right and the paint washes off with minimum rubbing, rinsing away without even a stain of it left. Not counting the dark purple bruises as stains. Geoff trails his hands down Michael's sides fondly and Michael doesn't pay him much mind.

More than content to let Geoff touch him as he pleases, Michael continues about his business of absently scrubbing his arms and neck where most of the paint has gathered. Geoff rests his chin on his shoulder, and awkward crane for their heights, but he seems subdue right now. Michael isn't shockingly worried about getting bit. In fact, Geoff doesn't seem interested in kissing him at all. Which is fine, Michael guesses. Instead, Geoff slides his hands down over his hip bones and over his cock.

Michael groans faintly, now less than concentrate on whatever he was doing. Not that it was important. He leans back a little, resting his weight on Geoff's form faintly. The grip of the floor is enough to keep them from slipping but Michael braces a hand on the wall just incase. This, obviously, wouldn't stop them from falling but it gives him something to steady himself against as Geoff strokes his dick slowly. Really aggravatingly slowly.

"Geoff," Michael bites. "Come on. Stop fucking around." Geoff doesn't reply but he moves a little quicker, the hot friction bringing pants to his lips. He groans as Geoff nuzzles the little spot behind his ear. Michael grabs his wrist just to have something to hold onto but it urges Geoff to move faster. His thumb swipes across the head with every pass and Geoff moves his free hand to cup his balls.

"Fuck, fuck," Michael growls out from the back of his throat. He arches against Geoff and ruts his hips to the rhythm. "Shit, Geoff." He comes with a pleased groan, easy pleasure rolling through his bones. Geoff holds his hand under the water to rinse off and then let's him go almost immediately. Michael nearly loses his footing, jerked from his post orgasm bliss all at once. That was rude.

As Geoff gets out the shower, Michael notes he hasn't touched Geoff at all. He certainly doesn't say anything about not getting his mutual pleasure which is kind of weird for Geoff. Typically he's all about the give and take during sex. Michael kicks the shower off as Geoff wraps a towel around his waist so nonchalantly.

"Geoff, what the fuck?" Michael inquires vaguely. He doesn't think it that vague considering the circumstances but clearly Geoff does.

"What?" he snaps irritably. Whoa. Alright. That was so needlessly aggressive.

"Fucking nevermind, then," Michael snaps back. "Fucking dick." If that's how he wants to be then he can get himself off. Sober Geoff is turning out to be an ornery bastard. Michael decides to keep any further comments to himself as they dry off and dress for bed. Geoff's out of his goddamn mind if he thinks Michael isn't about to sleep in this bed. Sure, his room is literally one door down but it's the principle of the thing.

"Visitor; Ryan," Rwby announces suddenly. Michael glances up curiously. What's Ryan doing over here?

"Let him in," Geoff murmurs. Unlike smart people, they've gotten into the habit of not using the manual door locks. It's nothing but a pain to juggle all the locks and keys. Ryan lets himself in once Rwby unlocks the door and he looks incredibly embarrassed when he enters.

"What happened, Rye Bread?" Michael questions.

"Nothing," Ryan murmurs. This is obviously a lie. "I'm just gonna- sleep here." He gestures to the couch slightly and this only draws more questions. Geoff isn't even remotely interested, already climbing into bed without any suggestion that he's going to tell Ryan not to do that.

"Well, sleep in the fucking bed at least," Michael insists.

"No, I'm just going to sleep here," Ryan repeats as he sits himself on Geoff's couch. Michael is so confused.

"Did you lock yourself out of your room?" he presses on. "Do you fucking need me to come with you or what? What's going on?"

"No," Ryan shakes his head. "Nothing."

"Will you two shut up?" Geoff scoffs. “If he wants to sleep on the couch, let his dumb ass sleep on the couch.”

"You shut the fuck up, Geoff," Michael responds instantly. "What the fuck is wrong with you, Ryan?"

"I moaned Ray's name by accident," Ryan finally admits with a sigh. Michael tries really hard not to laugh. Geoff tries less hard. He loudly bursts out laughing, gripping his ribs in one hand. Ryan murmurs a small, "yeah."

"So you're punishing yourself by sleeping on the couch?" Michael confirms.

"Yeah," he sighs. Michael shakes his head.

"Whatever," he scoffs in amusement. "You're a fucking dork." Ryan just sort of shrugs in reply as he lies himself down. Once he's settled, Michael climbs into bed with Geoff. All things aside, Geoff moves into him and wraps his arms around Michael to cuddle with him just like always. The lights go down gradually once they're all comfortable and Michael finds himself asleep in no time.

It feels like he's awake even sooner. A hand smacks him hard in the face and startles him awake. Disorientated, Michael jerks himself upright to figure out what's going on. As it turns out, his attacker is none other than Geoff. It doesn't seem to have been on purpose at any rate, as Geoff is still fast asleep and visibly restless. Michael gets out of bed before Geoff rolls over again and gives him a black eye or something. He'd been sleeping good, too.

Half blind and in the dark, Michael heads for the fridge for a quick drink. Ryan is still on the couch, laid flat on his back in a very stiff position. It looks like he's ready for an open casket or something, hands on his belly and everything. Michael approaches him quietly and though Ryan doesn't move, he's clearly awake.

"I know you're not sleep," Michael murmurs. Ryan opens his eyes momentarily to look at him before closing them again and taking a deep breath. He doesn't look like he's been asleep at all. Michael climbs onto him, straddling his waist and looking down at him. Ryan raises an inquisitive brow.

"Can't sleep?" Michael asks softly.

"No," Ryan agrees. "Not tonight."

"Can I ask you something?" Michael says and Ryan closes his eyes again. He's really relaxed. Why he can't fall asleep is a mystery.

"I guess," he answers.

"A while ago, well maybe not _that_ long ago, Ray said something," Michael murmurs.

"Ray said a lot of things," Ryan assures him. "I wouldn't take it to heart."

"This was when he was tripping though. He said, you don't like to sleep. That you're worried you won't wake up or something?" Michael explains. He leaves out the last bit. "Is that true? I mean I'm only asking cause you said earlier you were in prison and-"

"Yeah," Ryan cuts him off. "It's- you're sort of right. My insomnia, it's hereditary actually, but that's separate from the, uh, fear I guess, believe it or not. The capital punishment in Georgia is lethal injection. It puts you to sleep first, you know, and that freaked me out. Still does."

"Oh," is all Michael says.

"It's okay," Ryan promises faintly and shrugs. "It's just one of those things you live with. I'm fine."

"Yeah," Michael answers. He lies himself on Ryan's warm chest comfortably. "You're okay."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you're sad and you know it clap your hands.


	4. The Future

Despite the overall ease of his last mission, Ray is pretty content with himself. It had been an in and out job, leaving Roosterteeth in the dead morning and returning the same night. Hell, most the trip had been a plane ride. Still, this isn't exactly a bad thing for him. The more jobs he gets done in a timely and efficient manner, the sooner they'll realise he's fine and let him off restriction to take more difficult jobs again. As much as he’d like to take his more difficult jobs again, there’s no way they’d let him.

His last major job wasn't stressful; it was annoying.

With success still vibrating in his blood, Ray heads to the training floor again. He just needs something to wind down with. Granted, he also hasn't slept in about thirty six hours so this is probably the last place he needs to be. He isn't planning on doing anything particularly challenging though, just a simple parkour brush up. He has to keep his skills polished after all. When he tries to claim the empty slot on the training floor, however, it doesn’t let him.

‘You are not authorized to do this’ pops up in red letters like a warning to him. Ray has no idea what this means. He’s never gotten this message before while trying to use the training floor. The training floor is something that he’d been promised would always been open to him. He rubs his fingers on his pants a bit before trying the screen again but it gives him the same error. Even though he’s using his left hand, it’s definitely recognising his touch. Why is he not authorized to use the training floor?

“Rwby,” Ray gets her attention with mute irritation. Everything has to be a federal fucking issue, doesn’t it? “Why isn’t this working?”

“You don’t have the authorization to claim a spot on the training floor, Ray,” she replies simply. He got that idea, yeah.

“Why?” he insists shortly. All he wants is a quick parkour session, not an argument with a dumb screen telling him he can’t do something.

“Your restriction level has been elevated to red as of yesterday,” Rwby explains. He hadn’t even been here yesterday! Last time he checked, he’d only been on white restriction, anyways. How the hell had he climbed three levels overnight without even being here? Ray isn’t even completely sure what red level restriction indicates since he’s never been on it. There’s been a mistake obviously; they can not ban him from the training floor.

“Did Blaine do this?” Ray asks and he can feel the anger dripping into his voice even though he tries to keep it held back. He’s not angry, only frustrated. This is honestly the last thing he needs right now. He completed his last job perfect and as a reward he got bumped into the red? What kind of bullshit is that?

“For your own safety, yes,” Rwby assures.

“My own safety?” Ray snorts back. “Where is he? I need to talk to him.” Or more specifically, tell him to knock this shit off and take him off of restriction altogether. This is all completely unnecessary. There’s nothing wrong with him and they’re acting like he’s a danger to himself or something. If he was a danger to anyone, and he’s not, it certainly wouldn’t be himself. Besides, the only thing currently stressing him out is the fact that they think he is stressed out.

“He is in the labs,” Rwby informs so that’s where Ray heads. Now he’s restless and on the walk over he fiddles with his glove subconsciously. He can still feel the scabbed skin undeather, though, and it puts an end to this action immediately. That’s so gross. He shoves his hand into his pocket where it’s well hidden and for lack of anything else to do with the other hand, adds that one to the pocket of his hoodie as well.

Fortunately, Blaine is relatively isolated when Ray finds him sitting about the lab. He appears to be testing out a new piece of equipment but Ray interrupts him anyways. Blaine only looks at him halfly when he approaches, an empty look to his face signifying he is not on the clock right now. Ray really doesn’t care, though, because perhaps Blaine shouldn’t have put him on restriction in the first place if he wanted to be left alone during his personal time. Besides, doctors around here don’t get ‘off’ time. ‘Sorry you’re bleeding to death, I’m on break.’

“Why am I on red restriction?” Ray asks without any sort of prelude or formalities.

“I’m great, thanks for asking,” Blaine replies scathingly. “How are you?”

“On red restriction,” Ray answers sharply. “Why?”

“Okay, well,” Blaine sighs as he puts down whatever it is he’s working on to put his attention on the conversation. He puts on his doctor mode immediately, likely knowing that he really has no right in refusing Ray this information. “You were dead for twenty two minutes so that’s kind of a big deal.”

“Oh what? And that’s my fault?” Ray huffs. “I would have been fine if Rwby hadn’t tried to tranq me.”

“No,” Blaine corrects. “You would have been fine if you hadn’t taken an entire bottle of Benzodiazepines. Admittedly, Rwby trying to tranq you on top of that didn’t help, but whatever possessed you that you needed to consume nearly twelve hundred milligrams of a drug you shouldn’t have even taken ten milligrams of is not acceptable.”

“You told me to take them when I needed them,” Ray assures him bluntly.

“No,” Blaine quickly says. “I said, be careful with them and only take them if you absolutely need to. I also said that they’re addictive and that you need to start weeding off of them every time you try to refill your prescription and you ignore me so.”

“So what?” comes the snappy reply. “I can’t take them anymore?”

“Ray,” Blaine murmurs faintly. “You’ve been getting panic attacks a lot more frequently and they’re getting worse and worse. If you really feel like you need an entire bottle to ease your episodes, then this has really gone too far and you need to stop. Your body can’t handle twelve hundred milligrams, Ray, and your body definitely can’t keep handling this stress. Why do you think your heart fucking stopped?”

“So I just get to be on red restriction forever, then?” Ray confirms sourly. “What the fuck are you saying, Blaine?”

“No,” Blaine promises. “Either you get over your panic attacks or you stop working for Roosterteeth. Those are your options.”

“What?” This honestly catches Ray a little off guard. Not work for Roosterteeth? “You’re seriously giving me the option between magically curing myself and death? What kind of fucking doctor are you?”

“What I was suggesting was what I suggested in the first place and attending therapy with Rwby. Maybe some cognitive behavioral therapy. I don’t know. But yeah, you’ve let this go so far that you’re only other option is death or really shitty life I guess if you just want to be on red restriction until your heart gives out or you die of old age or something. I can’t let you work in the condition you’re in and that’s the end of it,” Blaine explains idly as he slowly returns to what he was doing before. Ray officially has the worst headache of his life.

“If you don’t want to do that, I would suggest solving your problem with Ryan. That seems to be where this sudden decline started. Show me you can handle being around Ryan without self destructing or injuring anyone and I’ll bump you back down to orange,” he continues simply. Of course that’s the solution. Ray should have seen this coming, honestly. This is exactly what he gets, isn’t it? He’s going to kill Ryan. That will definitely solve his problem.

“What about my meds?” Ray asks pointedly.

“You’re going to have to suck it up,” Blaine says. “If your heart stops again, there’s no guarantee we can jump start you a second time. Get a stuffed animal, think happy thoughts, smoke some weed, I don’t care. Rwby will reduce your dose gradually to help with the withdraw, but don’t expect much.”

“You’re the worst doctor ever, I hope you know that,” Ray tells him without even the slightest bit of amusement. Honestly, the thought of not having his medication in case he really needs it is, in itself, incredibly anxiety inducing. So far, Blaine has him on red restriction, off his medication, and is holding a relationship with Ryan over his head to get him to cooperate. A plus doctoring skills right here.

“Hey, I tried to get you to deal with this several times before you let it get out of control and you didn’t listen,” Blaine assures him coldly. “Now your options are deal with it or die. You guys always do this."

"I'm offended," Ray says immediately. "Super offended."

"If it helps, had I known at the time that you had such an addictive personality, I wouldn't have prescribed you anything at all," Blaine promises. He makes it sound like Ray enjoys this somehow. It's not like he overdosed for fucking fun and he definitely hadn't been getting high on it.

"It doesn't," Ray informs irritably. "Do I have permission to sleep in my room or do I need to suck someone's dick to get them to authorize that for me?"

"Don't shoot the messenger here," Blaine scoffs back. "This isn't my fault." Annoyed or not, Ray really does understand this. That doesn’t mean he approves of Blaine's decision on any of this, but he knows that verbally, or physically for that matter, attacking Blaine isn’t going to help himself. Which is unfortunate because that’s really all he wants to do right now. Without any sort of parting words, Ray leaves the lab and behind him, he hears the distant, “well goodbye to you, too.”

If he had been worked up and stressed before, _which he wasn’t_ , he is twice as so now. All he had wanted was a quick parkour session to wind down from his successful job and now he’s off his medication and has to look Ryan straight in the face and forgive him. Well, Blaine hadn’t said to do that exactly but what the hell was he supposed to do? Hey Ryan, I’m going to hang around you reluctantly and hope I can control myself enough to not punch you in the face until Blaine realizes he’s made a terrible mistaken. Yeah, he sees that going over flawlessly.

Ray doesn’t recall making it back to his room.

\- x -

It’s the slight of his steps that gets Ryan’s attention. Admittedly, perhaps Ray had already had his attention anyways. He reacts automatically, taking large steps towards Ray that very quickly becomes a run when he realises, yeah, Ray’s going down. Ray’s so light it only takes Ryan catching his hand under his back to prevent him from hitting the ground. It’s so much worse than that, though. It’s only now when Ryan has a chance to notice that he realises Ray has really lost weight. He’s always been small but this is ridiculous. He hides it under those hoodies and pants just slightly too big that it’s hard to tell sometimes.

Carefully, Ryan helps Ray down to the floor. He’s honestly not really sure what to do about this. It’s not like he’s just going to leave Ray here. Something hits Ray in the neck, just barely missing Ryan’s arm in the process, and he realises it’s a tranquilizer. Hurriedly, he yanks it out of Ray’s neck without even thinking about it.

“What the fuck, Rwby?” he snaps angrily, throwing the dart against the ground hard. “Why the hell did you just tranq him? He was already unconscious!”

“Private information,” replies Rwby.

“‘Private’-? I wasn’t fucking asking for a background check. I want to know why you fucking hit him with a tranquilizer dart when he was already fucking unconscious, Rwby,” Ryan barks sharply. He knows he’s making a scene but this is completely unacceptable. Rwby was there to help them, not potentially cause serious health complications. There is absolutely no reason for her to have done this.

“Private information,” Rwby repeats. Ryan scowls. “Please escort Ray to the medical bay at once.”

“ _No_ ,” Ryan answers without hesitation, as if the very suggestion is insulting. The last thing he’s about to do is bring Ray to the medic wing when Rwby has done something like this. He can’t imagine her doing it without being prompted to either. So either Blaine instructed her to or she’s malfunctioning and either way, he’s not bring Ray anywhere near them.

“Dispensing doctor,” Rwby informs. Ryan will fucking fight a doctor.

“That’s okay Rwby,” Joel murmurs slightly as he approaches them. “I’ll bring him in.”

“Thank you, Joel,” she says happily. Oh and he’ll definitely fight Joel.

“Come on, man,” Joel insists as he crouches beside Ryan and Ray. “You’re gonna hurt him.”

“It’s not gonna be him that ends up hurt,” Ryan assures him coldly. “You know this is wrong.”

“I know it’s weird as hell you’re trying to make medical decision for him while he’s passed out,” Joel answers pointedly. That’s not fair. Ryan stiffens his jaw angrily. He knows damn well there’s no reason to tranq an agent who isn’t causing harm to himself or others and even then, it requires some grave error for Rwby to deem it necessary. This is absolutely ridiculous.

“Please disengage Ray, Ryan,” Rwby requests. On the other hand, she’s very clearly ready to put him down as well. Things have obviously changed since the last time he was here. Without much of a choice, at least not a wise one, Ryan gently lies Ray on the ground. It’s not a submissive gesture at all; he’s not accepting Joel’s response to this. Joel is well aware of this, too. Ryan crosses his arms stubbornly as Joel picks Ray up gently and hoists him partially over his shoulder like a piece of fucking meat. It proves to aggravate Ryan further. Before Joel heads off with Ray, though, he pauses momentarily to look back at Ryan.

“I have a spot on the training floor tomorrow afternoon,” Joel mentions. “You can join me if you want.” It’s not an offer by any stretch of the word. It’s a threat; a deal. They can settle this very easily and that is by punching each other unconscious. Ryan isn’t going to back down and clearly, neither is Joel. The only fight a Republica can win against another Republica is a physical one; words have already failed them.

“Absolutely,” Ryan agrees. So they’ll risk everything all at once and get it over with. On one hand, Ryan knows if he loses then he’ll basically be giving up any chance at repairing his relationship with Ray. There’s no way Ray would approach him of his own volition and if Joel won their little ‘session’, then Ryan would be willing agreeing to never approach Ray unprovoked. On the other hand, Joel will be giving up the same thing if he lost.

Knowing what he does about Joel, Ryan isn’t sure he can win this fight. In an isolated setting that he knows the rules and parameters of, of course he has an advantage, but in a fight with no rules and fewer morals, they’re about evenly matched. Which means they may actually be reduced to a brutal game of punching each other. They’ll find out soon. Ryan grinds his teeth as Joel heads for the medical bay with Ray.

So he’s going to fight his ex’s ex purely for the sake of deciding which of them Ray is going to beat the shit out of when he finds out.

Ryan really loves being back in Republica again.

\- x -

Ray breathes in a lungful of smoke from his joint before dangling it off the edge of the bed again. Now that he’s slept some, he finds it hard to sleep at all. In fact, he doesn’t even want to sleep at the moment. Eight hours in a drug induced nap is more than enough for him and the nausea in his stomach still hasn’t entirely dispersed. Though he’s not tired, he doesn’t feel rested, either. At least he’s more relaxed than he’s been for a while now, not that he can contribute this to any positive reason, simply to the fact that he is so low energy that he physically can not be stressed out.

Rwby has suggested he watch some of the old footage of his jobs with Ryan to help ease whatever ‘malicious’ feelings he has. Ray isn’t arguing that everything he had with Ryan had been horrible and he doesn’t see the point of watching any of this. It’s nice, he supposes, and it gives him something to focus on that isn’t completely awful. With the video projected onto the ceiling of his room, it’s very easy to just lie back and watch. He thinks she has other reasons for insisting he watch these. Desensitization, maybe.

_“Who the fuck is this?”_ their target, a man of middle age and middle wealth, growls out. He was an aggressive man, pushy and forward, but overall easy to manipulate into following their agenda. Ryan takes it all in stride, though, in a well thought and planned out reaction. Everything is tuned down to the very dot, ready for any outcome or possibility but nothing set in stone. Their line of work was about what ifs and there are many what ifs. Ryan only looks down at Ray curiously before looking back on the man.

_”This is my bodyguard,”_ he explains simply. _”And boyfriend,”_ he adds on gladly and places an affectionate hand on Ray’s shoulder. _”I don’t go anywhere he doesn’t go.”_

_”I told you to come alone,”_ comes the sharp hiss.

_”Yeah,”_ Ryan agrees with a mild sigh. _”And I ignored you. If it helps, he doesn’t speak a lick of english. Isn’t that right, you filthy fucking whore?”_ He smiles at Ray and Ray beams a happy smile back. This proves nothing, really, but it fools their target into thinking things that aren’t true. Ryan wraps an arm around his shoulder and pulls Ray close to him to place a soft kiss on the top of his head.

_”Ray here decided he was going to sleep with one of my ‘workers’. She’s dead now,”_ he assures with a friendly smile. _”But, say, if Ray were to- ‘wander off’ and perhaps, I don’t know, get into a fight? That would really just be too bad. Two birds with one stone and all that.”_ There is a moment of silence where their target has to consider what this means before nodding faintly. Obviously what he thinks it means doesn’t mean that at all. He thinks that because Ray has be signified as Ryan’s boyfriend, they’ll be able to torture information out of him. What is really means is that Ray is going to slaughter a large amount of his men, break into his safe, and then come retrieve Ryan so they can leave.

_”Follow me,”_ he instructs. Ryan gives Ray a warm pat on the back and murmurs something nonsensical in Spanish. Sure enough, as Ryan and their target begin to chat up whatever it is incompetent criminals chat about, one of the guards reaches out to stop Ray. Initially, Ray acts as though he’s not going to go along with them but Ryan glances over his shoulder and waves Ray off. With a slight delay, Ray ‘wanders’ off.

The video cuts out and when it returns, it’s a view of Ryan and their target discussing something over drinks. He’s not so much buying time as he is amusing himself. The door opens and there’s Ray, covered in a layer of blood like he’s bathed in it. Immediately, their target jumps out of his chair and Ryan grins welcomingly. He gesturing Ray towards him faintly.

_”There you are,”_ Ryan says fondly. _”Are you alright, Ray?”_

_”Ah, sí,”_ Ray replies and he slicks some of the blood off his arms and flickers it against the floor.

_”Good, good. We’re about done here, Mr, uh, I don’t remember your name, actually,”_ Ryan murmurs as he stands and brushes the wrinkles out of his shirt. _”Ah, I guess it doesn’t matter. We’ll be taking our leave with your little files here and you’ll be keeping your nose out of Lyn’s business from now on.”_ Ray lifts the briefcase he’s recovered from their target’s safe and holds it up pointedly to assure he does in fact have it and the arm it’s handcuffed to. Don’t handcuff stuff to yourself. Just don’t do it.

_”How- how did you-?”_

_”You_ won’t _be seeing us again,”_ Ryan promises ominously. These were the simple jobs that they only took in their down time. The ones that let them calm down from more stressful missions but didn’t leave them idle. If there was one thing they couldn’t handle, it was being idle for long periods of time. Obviously the best choice was to put him on red restriction and let him wallow in his own misery. If Ray were honest, he’d have to say these were the jobs he liked best, not the swarms or the high stakes. Those were fine, sure, the long hours of keeping literal armies at bay while Ryan did his nerd computer stuff was challenging and entertaining but typically always the same.

Ray likes the lying. He likes the manipulating and making people believe he was something he wasn’t. Of course, he likes the physical aspects, too; a good fight or a long ranged snipe. There’s just something about being able to convince dozens, sometimes hundreds, of people that he was anyone he wanted to be. He stopped taking those kind of jobs when Ryan left, only dabbling in them momentarily while he was working with Joel. Joel had been too much like him but not enough. They were compatible but redundant.

With a faint sigh, Ray changes hands that he holds his joint with as to free up his ungloved one. He takes an easy breath of it in and clears his mind. There’s no point in riling himself up and he knows it. This is what he’s good at. He’ll kick his habit and pretend to be friendly with Ryan long enough to get Blaine to give him his breathing room back and when he does, Ray can drop Ryan and get back to his life. Whatever the hell his life is anymore. He can’t really remember what he’s done in the last couple years.

Ray palms his cock lazily as he closes his eyes, effectively losing all interest in the videos Rwby plays for him. The sound still continues in the back of his mind, though, faint groans and pants echoing off his thoughts. Ryan’s needy fingers and Ray’s wandering hands earning moans out of the both of them in the dingy hotel room. At first, there’s a certain air of excitement he gets from remembering Ryan’s hands on him but he quickly shoves it away when he start finding himself thinking about Ryan touching him now.

He doesn’t exactly like himself for it, either. He doesn’t like catching himself wondering if everything about Ryan is different; the way he kisses, the way he moves, if he still has that ridiculous need to trace every curve and plane of skin with the tips of his fingers. He hates it. He hates the way Ryan’s name touches his tongue when he comes and the guilt that sits heavy on his chest in the aftermath.

He hates that even after everything, he still can’t hate Ryan.

\- x -

Ryan explained to his boyfriends why he was accepting Joel’s offer and that it, in fact, wasn’t to test their compatibility as partners. When they argued that he shouldn’t do this, he starts to think that he didn’t use the proper words. Regardless, here he is. While he could understand why they would be against him essentially throwing everything away in a single fight, there’s some comfort in it, too. Either way, this fight will solidify his choice whether he has to give up Ray or actually make a strong effort to gain his favour. It’s like a coin toss only more physical. Ryan thinks he’d have better luck in a coin toss, actually.

He and Joel don’t bother with talk as they stretch in preparation for their fight. Ryan can see his boyfriends watching from up above, both concerned for him and very much not. There’s really no need to be concerned, he really has no intention of trying to kill Joel and he believes the same to be true for Joel. This isn’t worth their lives. Besides his boyfriends and Adam, a crowd has already begun to gather as well and it’s much larger than typical for a simple sparring match. This is because Republica works on word of mouth and word of mouth says ‘come watch these two idiots beat each other senseless over a ex that doesn’t want them’.

This is why he isn’t exactly surprised when their warm up is interrupted by Rwby.

“Sparing request; Tina Dayton.”

Ryan glances to Joel slightly and Joel gives him a questioning look. Though she’s kept her distance from Ryan thus far, it’s his understanding that Joel has made himself clear to her as well that he doesn’t intent on giving up on Ray so easily. This is as much her fight as it is theirs. He has to recalculate the odds in his head. He hasn’t seen her fight before and honestly hasn’t dedicated much thought to her at all considering unlike Joel, she seems to be content with minding her own business. However, the fact that she is willingly involving herself in this fight means that she likely has no intention of remaining neutral throughout this, either.

“Yeah, okay,” Joel agrees with a slight shrug. He’s come to the same solution Ryan has; better to take down two competitors in the same match than have to deal with this again later. This knocks his chances down to a mere thirty three percent but from a strategic standpoint, he has a better chance in a one on one on one than he does just verse Joel.

“Fine with me,” Ryan confirms as well. Now the game has changed. Simply due to the fact that Ryan isn’t too keen on Joel at all, he sees it being easy to temporarily team with Tina to get him out of the way first. Granted she doesn’t think him the bigger threat. Considering his time away from Roosterteeth and his current standing of having done no jobs and no formal training, he greatly doubts any of them see him as much of a threat.

Tina greets them politely when she joins them on the floor before taking to her own section for a brief warm up. Ryan can’t help the little glances he makes at her, though, trying to assess exactly what it is about her that’s caught Ray’s attention. The only good this really does him is make him wonder what kept Ray at _his_ side for so long and that he really has no idea what Ray gravitates towards. Anyone who shows him even the slightest amount of attention? Ryan can’t see any other similarities between the three of them besides that.

“Sparing request,” Rwby announces once again. This time, Ryan is significantly more surprised. He looks at Joel questioningly and in response, Joel looks to Tina. He honestly can’t think of anyone else willing to risk their well being in a fight over Ray. “Ray Narvaez Jr.”

Oh.

Right.

This is not good by any stretch of the word. It’s not exactly as though they can refuse him this especially considering he knows exactly what this fight is about. On the other hand, it seems like a very counter productive to fight the person they’re fighting for. Ryan supposes he should have known Ray wouldn’t simply watch something like this happen. Well, they’re going to get their asses kicked now.

“If he wants,” Ryan murmurs. His chances very quickly have diminished down to zero. That may be a little dramatic as he’s sure that Joel and Tina are on the same page that he is and they’re going to try and take Ray out immediately to assure they at least have a chance. This is only speculation, though. Ryan isn’t completely sure how Ray stacks up against Joel or Tina but he’s willing to bet that there’s a reason he out ranks them all.

“Course,” Tina agrees gladly. She by far has the least to lose and the most to gain here. He can’t say he envies her. Joel is far more reluctant to allow this but he’s already been out counted and to refuse now would do him no favours. Out of the three of them, he should know Ray’s methods the best; he’s had more time to see them in action which explains his unease to this.

“Sure,” he finally says blandly. “Let’s make it a party.”

“Authorization pending,” Rwby states. That’s new. “Authorization accepted.” This fight suddenly got a whole lot more challenging and far more dangerous. Ray knows what this fight is about, he couldn’t possibly not, and this is a huge no-no. Deciding amongst themselves who got first rights to Ray? Maybe not exactly the brightest of ideas. Though admittedly, like most things around here, it isn’t nearly that black and white. They’re just trying to stay off of each others’ toes. Ryan has got to stop telling himself these things.

When Ray enters the floor, he doesn’t look at any of them which is a good sign of him not being happy. He simply heads to his own designated warm up spot without a word. Ryan turns his attention back to the information Rwby displays for him. As he would have guessed, he’s compatible with both Ray and Tina and shockingly incompatible with Joel. He readies up and Rwby requests his fight preferences; no weapons, static floor, one point knock out. Just because he doesn’t think they’re ready to kill doesn’t mean he wants to give them at option. Fortunately, the others seem to have the same idea.

Rwby flips a coin to tie break whether or not they get a dynamic floor but everything else is unanimous. The floor remains static which is a good thing for Ryan at least. The less advantages they can give Ray, the better. The circle he stands in fades a little as Rwby makes final preparations. Without any cover and without sort of high ground, they’re all on fairly even field. It’s also going to make it rather difficult to hold back as well, since they’ll all be directly in line of sight.

“One point knock out! You get knocked unconscious, you’re through! Match begin in three! Two! One!”

There’s no hesitation. As soon as their boundaries disappear, they make for the middle of the floor all at once. Ryan really doesn’t have any form of strategy, he doesn’t know enough about his opponents to accurately assume anything is going to work, but he doubts it would have helped him anyways. His thought process soon ends in favour of immediate and spontaneous action. Joel throws a kick in his direction and Ryan catches the limb with both hands, stopping his momentum dead. With a jerk, he yanks Joel sideways, throwing him off balance and causing him to tumble towards Ray.

In an easy movement, Ray throws his weight back in a walkover and avoids Joel all together. Joel manages to get his arm up over his head before Tina gets her leg around his throat and drags him downwards. Ryan backs up quickly when Ray comes at him with swift steps. Obviously his old ‘wait for them to come to me’ technique isn’t in effect. He swings in a wide arch, needing the extra charge to back up his small build. However, it gives Ryan the opportunity to grab his forearm and neutralize the blow all together. He quickly aims to return the favour but Ray hooks his leg under Ryan’s knee and they both hit the ground hard.

At once, Ray has his hands around Ryan’s throat and his feet pinned on the crooks of his elbows. Admittedly, perhaps trying to fight anyone so soon after rejoining Republica wasn’t a good idea; he’s a little rusty. With some heft, though, he manages to catch Ray’s throat under his leg, yanking him back but not breaking his grip around his throat. Ryan is really not as flexible as he used to be. The awkward angle they’re forced into does relieve some of the pressure on his throat, though, which gives him more time to figure something out before Ray does.

Tina aims to kick Ray in his exposed chest and immediately, Ray lets go of Ryan’s neck and is jerked back under his leg. He breaks free quickly, somersaulting back to get away from the pile up and get some breathing room back. Ryan heaves himself up with a less than elegant movement and kicks Tina’s feet out from under her, using the motion to aim at her side as she goes down. Joel grabs his foot when he pulls back, however, and jerks him to the ground again, this time face first. He hurriedly turns himself over and Tina gets a solid punch on his face before Joel is dragging him in another direction.

Joel makes to stomp on his chest and Ryan catches his foot in both hands. This initiates Joel to unground his other foot and hop his entire weight onto Ryan’s palms. Ryan throws him back in an easy gesture as Joel doesn’t weigh nearly as much as he thinks he does. Joel arches his weight backwards to catch himself on his hands and slides a bit on his palms before regaining his footing. Quickly, Ryan rolls himself back over and hops to his feet with little harm done. He shakes his hands out a bit, assuring he still has a proper grip, and focuses his attention on Joel. For a moment, at least. Tina is thrown past him in a heap, nearly unable to catch herself before she hits the ground but managing somehow to use her momentum to turn herself around on one hand and slide back on her feet.

Right, they still have a common enemy. As Tina straightens herself back up, Ryan glances back at Ray. Everything about his body language screams intimidating and weirdly enough, Ryan is a little intimidated. The way he holds himself has changed dramatically and while, yeah, it’s probably just for show, it works. Then again, Ray has never needed to be intimidating to be skilled and now that these two things match up, he has reason to be unnerved. Ryan looks toward Joel for confirmation and then Tina. They’re all in agreement, then; a temporary truce.

“We can throw him off if we break his rhythm,” Joel notes simply. “As long as it’s odd, three or five bps, we can get the advantage.” This is a poor idea. Ray is adaptive so even if this works, it’s not going to work very long. However, it’s not like Ryan has a better idea. Honestly, everything about this is starting to seem like more and more of a poor idea. Ray is trained to excel when outnumbered and outgunned and here they are trying to take him three to one.

Considering it’s Joel’s great idea, he moves first. It’s such a slight difference that it’s hardly noticeable. Joel doesn’t have enough weight to throw around and in face of this, Ray changes tactics. Initially, Joel’s plan does seem to work to a certain degree. They exchange blows in quick succession, Ray aiming for spots that are awkward for Joel to block and Joel lands some pretty hard blows. However, by the time Tina enters the fray, Ray has already figured out what is happening and is very rapidly adjusting to it.

Tina has ideas of her own. Then again, Joel’s ‘plan’ was less of a plan and more of a statement to do with as they will and they will. Ray is forced onto a defensive position very quickly but even then, he remains aggressive. He does his best to redirect Tina and Joel’s hit to one another as opposed to him while still trying to dodge any stray swings. This does minimum good between the two of them. The small signals Joel and Tina make likely aren’t missed by Ray but that doesn’t change the fact that there isn’t much he can do about it.

Joel wraps his arm around Ray’s suddenly, locking them together and greatly limiting Ray’s movement. In a way to try and free himself, Ray throws his weight back and is subsequently stopped by Tina. She kicks her foot into the back of one of Ray’s heels to prevent him from moving back without stumbling or injuring himself and latches onto his shoulder with her arm entwined with his to pin him down. Ryan hastily goes to action before Ray has the chance to get free.

With a powerful pull back, Ryan socks Ray square in the face. The blow is enough to knock him to the ground and he slides across the floor just out of reach. Rwby does not call his knockout.

Uh oh.

_Uh oh._

Ray gets on his hands and knees slowly, blood dripping down his face and pooling on the floor beneath him. He wipes his mouth on the back of his hand and examines the blood that smears onto his skin. That absolutely should have knocked him out. Either Ryan doesn’t hit as hard as he used to or Ray is a lost heartier than he used to be. Ray reaches into his bloody mouth, pulls out one of his loose teeth with his fingers and looks at it with discontent. Well there’s Ryan’s answer! He flicks the tooth away and gets to his feet as he soaks up some of the blood around his mouth with his gloved hand. Then he’s approaching on them fast.

They all back up quickly which is really the only smart thing to do in this situation. If Ray was intimidating before, he’s a hell of a lot more so with blood on his face and hands; his own blood, at that.

“I don’t want to do this anymore,” Joel whispers faintly. “You two need to forfeit so we can stop.”

“Us?” Tina responds at once.

“This is absolutely your fault,” Ryan snaps shortly.

“Well,” Joel murmurs as they slowly circle in an attempt to keep some distance between themselves and Ray. This honestly doesn’t do them any favours as it’s only allowing Ray to regain his breath and stamina again, not to mention recover from the surely discombobulating blow. “Yeah but I have seniority.”

“Being old as hell doesn’t mean shit, Joel,” Ryan assures him.

“Are you sure about that?” Joel insists. Ray’s patience runs out sooner rather than later and he exchanges his calm gait for a sprint. Immediately, they take off in different directions. Ray probably can’t chase them all down but Ryan doesn’t want to be quoted on that. Fortunately, Ray goes for the easier target first; Joel. He has the misfortune of being smaller than Ryan but slower than Tina. It probably doesn’t help him that he knows Ray’s techniques fairly intimately and Ray will want him out of the way for further ease.

Ryan reassembles with Tina swiftly.

“So,” he says mildly. “Do you have any ideas?”

“Well, I was thinking about staying out of the way and letting you wear him down, but I don’t think that’s going to work,” Tina admits. “How about you?”

“Yeah, I was going to let him deal with you while I figured something out,” Ryan agrees. Neither of these ideas were really fool proof to begin with. Ray’s stamina is ridiculous and now they’ve really pissed him off. Whatever they’re going to do, they need to figure it out quickly; Joel isn’t doing too well. He’s advanced on so quickly that he hardly has the time to take solid footing, leaving him unable to properly block or punch. Joel attempts a back handspring to put some room between them and hopefully gain some ground but all this earns him in a high kick to the jaw. The velocity he put backwards works against him and he hits the wall he’s been cornered into hard.

“Joel! Out!” Rwby calls. “Point Ray!” On the bright side, Joel’s out. On the down side, here comes Ray. Ryan instinctively backs up again but Tina moves forward. More power to her, Ryan's going to stay back and reconsider his life choices. He knows there's really no option to forfeit now. That'd only make Ray even more upset and honestly, Ryan _can't_ do that. Granted, he's not exactly in good shape whether he wins or loses, either.

Tina gets a bit of upper ground from meeting him head on, immediately exchanging hard, rapid blows. She has some power behind her but obviously not enough for Ray to throw around, plus she's never completely grounded meaning even if Ray did find the necessary velocity to throw her, she wouldn't lose her balance like Ryan. There's an elegance between them that Ryan's hasn't seen before.

For whatever reason, Ray attempts to throw Tina despite knowing this will do him no good. As she directs a kick at his chin, he grabs her under the thigh and pushes her weight back. Tina recenters her gravity with a back walkover and quickly melds it into a handspring. She's making her way back toward Ryan and Ray is following. After the punch to the head, with the proper momentum, Tina could probably knock him out.

Ryan steadies his footing quickly and locks his fingers together to form a place for Tina to land. With a smooth transition on her hand to turn herself around, she faces Ryan suddenly and takes the proper run up to perform such a jump. The second her foot touches his palms, he launches her upwards. Theoretically, the extra downward pull should give her the needed energy to put Ray out.

That being said, Ray just sort of kicks her out of the air with an extremely well executed round house kick. Whoops.

"Tina! Out! Point Ray!" Rwby informs. So that hadn't gone exactly as planned. Actually, it probably went exactly as Ray had planned. Ryan's strategy at this point is pretty simple; don't die. Ray does take a moment to catch his breath again, though, he seems to be short of it lately, and Ryan takes the precious time to back himself into the wall. He needs something to not only brace himself on but prevent Ray from getting behind him. The several inch gap between he and the wall is good for both these things.

"Ryan," it's Geoff's voice on his mic. Not exactly who he wants to hear from. "Aim for his throat. You know those weak shoulders? Compress 'em." Is Rwby seriously letting Geoff coach him right now? This isn't entirely helpful information, the throat is usually a weak spot, but Ryan supposes it's more than his current plan is worth.

Ray heads toward him but this time, it's leisurely. Ryan isn't built to move like Tina and Joel are; he's not going anywhere. As it is, Ray has no desire to take it easy on him. Of course, Ryan expected nothing else. The first hit goes straight to Ryan's chest and the scar tissue Ray knows the location of to well. Ryan stops his hand easy but Ray only swings hard at his elbow, sending a pained jolt up his arm.

Ignoring this to the best of his ability, Ryan reaches out to grab Ray's shoulder swiftly and with a firm grip, jerks Ray face first into the wall. As soon as Ryan lets him go, he turns himself around and Ryan hits him hard in the throat with the side of his hand. The reaction is spontaneous. Ray gasps out violently and collapses to his knees all at once, grasping his neck in both hands. This is- surprising. Is he injured? Why hadn't Ryan noticed that sooner?

Ryan is quick to move before Ray can recompose himself. He grabs the front of Ray's shirt in both hands and heaves him off the ground to slam into the wall.

"Finish him now."

The absolutely terrified look that comes over Ray's face startles him. Christ, what is that about? That does not look like a well played fake, either. It's in his eyes. There's never anything in his eyes. In the few seconds that he's stunned, Ray kicks him between the legs and Ryan drops him instantly in the intense pain.

"You idiot."

A hard knee to the head knocks Ryan to the ground and the second he tries to get back up, Ray grabs his arm and causes him to smack his face against the floor. Ray pulls his arm back completely and when it won't go any further, he presses his foot between Ryan's shoulder blades and yanks his arm out of the socket. Ryan grits his teeth in the pain, but it is only momentary.

Ray kicks him square in the face and Ryan blacks out.

"Ryan! Out! Point Ray! Perfect score!"

Ryan isn't out particularly long. When he blearily opens his eyes, he's still looking at the cold training room floor. Carefully and slowly, he uses his good arm to push himself upright. That went about as well as he expected it to. He touches his nose a bit only to discover that's broken, too. It could be worse. He could have lost to Joel.

Tina and Joel sit on the floor in separate sections of the room, much like himself checking themselves for injuries and gathering their senses. Ray, as overwhelming victor, checks the scoreboard while he wipes the blood off his face with a towel. He doesn't stay long, though, likely uninterested in staying in their proximity any longer than he has to, but as he leaves, he pauses.

Ray knows what this fight was about. He knows the silent stakes they raised and the outcomes it would have meant. There's no second place here; no you got knocked out last prize. Ray won and they lost horribly. He looks them over though, and for a moment he almost looks like he's deciding.

Ryan thinks he may even leave without saying anything at all; a clear sign for them all to leave him the hell alone. There's no way he's going to help any of them up, that's for sure. He's not going to pick a 'winner' otherwise he would have done that from the very beginning. There’s no way he would have wasted all this time and energy just to make it clear who he was going to let pin after him. He fought because he wanted them to know he, and only he, will determine the pace of his relationships. Of course, he could have just said that and they would have respected that but Ryan also thinks Ray was mad and he has every right to be.

"GG, everyone," is all Ray ends up saying and he leaves without further comment or acknowledgement. Ryan sighs to himself. This fight solved absolutely nothing. He's not sure now why he ever thought this would be a good idea. Maybe he just really wanted to punch Joel. Next time he'll be sure to do it in a harmless training match.

Ryan rubs his hurt shoulder faintly and briefly debates whether he should just fix it himself or see Blaine. A hand comes into vision and he glances up to find Tina gladly offering to help him up. He accepts it with his uninjured arm and pulls himself to his feet. Though he has nothing against her, Ryan feels she isn't exactly as soft as she's leading to believe. The enemy of my enemy is my friend and so forth.

Before heading off the floor, Ryan joins Joel and Tina in viewing the scoreboard. Ray outranked them so badly, they all ranked up from losing a fight with him. He's clearly been busy while Ryan was away.

"This is totally your fault, you know," Joel murmurs.

"Joel, I will put my fist in your mouth right now. Shut up," Ryan replies.

"You just can't let go, can you?" Joel continues.

"Last warning," Ryan growls. Joel, wisely, says nothing else. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holidays + fight scene = bad times for author. sorry bout the delay. stay tuned for next week when stuff probably happens and grenades are involved obviously


	5. Holds The Future

Ray isn't shockingly happy to be in the medical wing again. He had put it off a bit because honestly, getting a tooth replaced isn’t exactly critical to his well being, but he figures he might as well get it over with sooner rather than later. It’s not like he can avoid Blaine forever unfortunately. That's not to say Blaine doesn't have some annoyed words for him, anyways.

"When I said to fix things with Ryan at literally no point did I mean trick Rwby and fight him along with two other people," Blaine promises louder than Ray feels is necessary. He's prepping the replacement tooth over his lap tray with great annoyance. Fairly, Blaine also hadn't said _not_ to do exactly that, either. It’s not even that Ray had entirely wanted to it’s just that he really didn’t appreciate what they were trying to do. Sure, he figured Ryan would do something like that, Ryan’s a fucking idiot, but Joel and Tina? He isn’t a fucking award. He’s definitely going to set Joel straight, that’s for sure. If at any point he had considered working with Joel and Adam again, he’s certainly not anymore.

At this point, he’s probably better off continuing to work solo.

“Rinse,” Blaine instructs sharply, shoving a small cup at him. Ray scoffs slightly but does as instructed. Surely Blaine hadn’t expected him to just sit back and watch because he sure as hell wasn’t about to do that. Honestly, he didn’t need to be on the training floor to knock some sense into some people he thought would know better. That fight was going to go down one way or another. He moves the sink over to spit and then Blaine is pulling his mouth open. Having teeth replaced has never been Ray’s favourite thing and Blaine being none too gentle about it now doesn’t make it much better. He checks the few teeth around the surrounding gap to make sure none of them are loose or cracked before going to work.

“Alright Ray, look, I gave you a chance to try to work things out and instead you broke Ryan’s nose and arm in a knockout match. Rwby says in order for you to move past this, you have to deal with your issues with Ryan. So here’s the ‘deal’; you partner up with Ryan again. If you don’t, you’re fired.” Ray nearly chokes on the fingers in his mouth. Blaine pulls back momentarily so Ray can recompose himself and to prevent from inadvertently, or purposely, being bitten. It hasn’t even been a week! He hasn’t even given Ray the chance to try and get along with Ryan yet!

“Fired?” Ray echos sharply. “You can’t fire me. You’re just a doctor! A doctor I _outrank_.”

“Did you read the medical conditional clause?” Blaine says blandly. “Any issued Republica medical representative can label an agent unfit for work and put in a request for termination to be approved by a supervisor. I don’t want to do this Ray, but you’ve proven that you’re hurting yourself and others indiscriminately and unwittingly. You can’t work, you can barely sleep, you haven’t eaten anything substantial in three and a half days. At the rate you’re going, you’d be better off dead if, in fact, you don’t just straight up die.”

“That’s fucked up,” Ray replies sourly. “That’s fucked up as hell, man. You’re supposed to be helping me.”

“I am,” Blaine promises. “As I’ve said, you’re in no condition to work and if you don’t do something about it, you never will be. We both know there’s no way you can continue to live here without working and you can’t retire like this. You’d just end up hurting civilians and drawing attention to yourself.”

“I don’t think that’s for you to decide,” Ray snaps back.

“I didn’t,” he assures. “Rwby did.”

“Oh, okay,” Ray says sarcastically. That’s even fucking better! It’s great to know his life is in the hands of an over sentient algorithm. Whatever, though, that’s fine! He’s not about to argue over this. He’s definitely not going to argue with Blaine about it. What he’s going to do is go straight to Gus and have this worked out immediately and in failure of that, murder Ryan. Murder Ryan until he is dead. Like some kind of ultra dead because obviously, just regular dead isn’t going to cut it.

“Open,” Blaine instructs as he holds up the new tooth with some pliers. “The sooner I jab this tooth back into your head, the sooner you get to go do whatever dumb idea you’re planning on doing.” He has to know how close he is to getting bit. There’s no way he doesn’t. Ray is going to bite the fuck out of him, pliers be damned. Reluctantly, and somewhat irritably, Ray does so just to get this over with sooner.

“Patient Geoff Ramsey has arrived,” Rwby informs suddenly and Geoff’s voice follows.

“Yo doc, I’m here to get that crow bar removed. You told me to stop by,” he explains over the com. Ray’s perfectly fine with coming back later. Ryan’s buddies aren’t exactly at the top of his like list right now, either, and avoiding them would be preferred. All they seem to want to talk about anymore is Ryan anyways. He thought they’d have other interests. Before he can state this, however, Blaine jams the tooth into his head hard and Ray jerks back in pain.

“Aw, shit! Fuck!”

“I’ll be done here in just a sec, Geoff,” Blaine promises as he passes Ray a cup of probably not water. Ray stretches his jaw irritably, trying to ease some of the discomfort that comes with having a fucking tooth jabbed into his perfectly not numbed gums. “Rinse. You know the deal; it’s going to take a few days for the tooth to root to your jaw so watch the fighting and don’t go gnawing on rocks or something.”

“You’re literally the worse. I preferred Gus, for real,” Ray assures him as he rubs his cheek faintly with the palm of his hand.

“I’ll be sure to let him know.”

\- x -

“Are you sure your arm is alright?” Jack inquires once again as the five of them finish up another round on the training floor. Now that they’ve all finished their check ups and have been approved for active work and training, Rwby has set up a regiment for them to both work on together and separately. As they are supposed to come out of this as a well organised machine, it’s important they do their training together, but as there will be times when they’ll be forced to work alone, it’s also important they can self sustain. Honestly, Ryan thinks they have more trouble working together if their previous attempts at organized crime proves anything.

Ryan flexes his arm a bit, not much signifying that it had ever been injured besides the dull ache he feels. He’s too aware that Ray has made a physical effort to not permanently injure any of them from the very beginning. Ray could have snapped the bone easy, but he’d only dislocated his shoulder instead. Then broke his nose but that was probably an unintentional side effect. Probably. Ryan nods a little, pulling his arm back to show Jack he still retains a decent range of movement with it and that it really doesn’t cause him any pain.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” Ryan promises. “I’ve fallen out of helicopters, I think I can handle a little broken shoulder.” Jack scoffs loudly but he smiles a bit because he knows Ryan is right. At least they’re done with the ‘I told you so’s. They were right, obviously, but it wasn’t like he was going to turn down a chance to hit Joel in the face again. To be honest, though, Ryan thinks it was good that Ray participated, and won, anyways. He’s probably had that in his system for a while.

“Are we ready to continue?” Rwby questions curiously. Each short break gives them enough time to catch their breath before moving on. If they want to get to the rank Burnie wants them at in just over a year, they’re going to have to really work at it. Granted, there are things they already know how to do and thus will end up breezing through some of these things without any effort or at least with minimum effort. That’s the theory anyways. It’s never really a sure thing with the crew.

“Ready when you guys are,” Ryan agrees and they all offer faint responses of agreement as well. Though it’s been a while since Ryan’s done any intense training like this, after all the years he spent in Republica, he is in better condition than the rest of them even with his six year vacation. It just feels natural to be doing this again. To some extent, he supposes he really does belong here.

“Since you guys are already low on energy, let’s try something a little- easier,” Rwby suggests. Despite probably wanting to disagree, most of them really are too tired to even try to prove her wrong. Fairly, working for Republica is a very physically demanding job even when doing things that aren’t strictly physical. Even their lab technicians are trained like this. Republica requires all its agents to be capable of weapon handling and short range self defense. Again, when the average life expectancy of their agents is so short, it’s a good idea to give them everything they need to self preserve as long as possible.

Rwby launches a grenade from beneath the floor and Ryan catches it mostly out of instinct. It takes a second but everyone swiftly backs away upon realisation that it is, in fact, a grenade. Ryan, however, is content with holding the live bomb for now. Some of the things that the crew used to be utterly amazed that he could do are probably starting to make a lot more sense, like how he could return live grenades without flinching.

“Paint grenade,” he explains shortly. “Helps train reflexes and timing. Modeled after real grenades of course.” He tosses it underhand at Gavin who, upon the assurance that it’s perfectly safe, catches it with only slight fumbling. Most training exercises are harmless and if they’re not, proper measures are taken to assure no one is seriously injured. Usually. Phyllis was generally pretty good about not pushing agents into doing something they weren’t ready for and he assumes Rwby would be even better at that.

“So like hot potato?” Geoff concludes.

“Pretty much,” Ryan agrees. “Except none of us are actually supposed to be holding it when it goes off.” Which is cue for the grenade to go off, startling Gavin in a huge puff of red paint and coating him almost completely. He's speechless for a moment and obviously a little unsure of what just happened. “Like that.”

“Point deduction, Gavin,” Rwby announces. Gavin lets out a croak of a noise that is probably meant to be an argument but never makes it that far. Another grenade is thrown into play this time in Jack’s direction. He doesn’t make an effort to hold it very long, though, immediately tossing it back to Ryan who passes it on to Michael without much hesitation. Gavin wipes some of the paint out of his face and proceeds to pout rather pointedly under the layer of red that coats his features.

“That wasn’t fair,” he insists shortly.

“How so?” Ryan replies. “It’s a live grenade. What did you think was going to happen?”

“Yeah, it was pretty straight forward man,” Michael agrees. This only causes Gavin to pout more. As an example of what they’re actually supposed to do, in contrast to how Gavin showed them what not to do, Ryan is passed the relatively harmless grenade back and he tosses it away from them where it detonates midair a safe distance away and rains down red paint across the floor. They’re not very densely packed and the paint doesn’t have a very large spread when detonated unlike a real grenade. This is mostly because high velocity paint is apparently capable of blinding a person- or several.

“It’s easy once you get the hang of it,” Ryan promises. “Uh, there are some real grenades in the mix, I should warn you. They’re neon green; you won’t miss ‘em.”

“Oh fantastic,” Gavin says sarcastically.

“What’s you’re problem? Just don’t be dumb about it and you’ll be fine,” Ryan insists with a teasing grin. “You’re just mad because you’re covered in paint.”

“Well maybe we shouldn’t be throwing damned grenades at each other!” Gavin answers briskly. Ryan shrugs. No one’s ever been seriously injured doing this. Not that he’s aware of at least and he feels like that’s something he would be aware of. When the next one pops up, Geoff makes a point of throwing it at Gavin in a high arch and Gavin quickly rids himself of it with his lesson obviously well learned. It’s more difficult than it looks, though, and Michael ends up holding it too long and earning a matching layer to Gavin’s. In all fairness, they take to laughing at each other above all else.

After a few more grenades, they get the timing down fairly well and Rwby quickly implicates multiball which ends up throwing everyone off. That ends rather quickly when they’re all covered in paint and Ryan’s fairly certain Rwby is laughing at them. She tones it back down again and they fall into an easy rhythm. Though the timing remains constant, it’s a good base for them to learn how to accurately judge time without a clock. Obviously Ryan knows this is something they aren’t exactly good at and, yeah, has caused critical failures in the past. The patent ‘uh okay go now’ is a good sign of things getting ready to be poorly missed timed and go very wrong.

True to them not being nearly as dumb as they occasionally appear to be, they managed to keep their rhythm even when Rwby interrupts them rather suddenly. The dumb part is trying to incorporate trick shots into it and beaning each other in the face with paint grenades. Safely passing it around would be boring after all.

“Training request: Meg Turney.”

Meg Turney? Ryan can’t say he’s familiar with her, actually, let alone why she would want to join them. Gavin however, lights up suddenly. The grenade they juggle doesn’t remain in anyone’s hands for very long though at this point, they’re all equally covered in paint and there isn’t much of a downside to not completing a pass.

“Oh!” he says at once. “That’s the girl I was talking to! The one I was telling you guys about?” Ryan must not have been paying much attention because he doesn’t remember that at all. Why is Gavin talking to strange Roosterteeth girls anyways? Surely he knows better than that? They’d eat him alive. Granted, most people and things here would.

“Is this the one you’re crushing on?” Geoff inquires.

“Like you remember everyone here is a raging lunatic, right?” Michael points out.

“So are Ryan and Ray!” Gavin points out. “And bloody Geoff apparently.”

“He’s not wrong,” Jack murmurs.

“Let her in I guess?” Ryan approves with some reluctance. He’s not entirely sure what Meg plans on doing here, generally compatibility fights are held one on one, but he supposes he really doesn’t have a reason to turn her away, either. Not that it’s his choice, really, but no one else is going to instruct Rwby that much is clear. They haven’t quite come to understand that she needs to be directed and typically won’t act unless done so.

When the door opens, it becomes clear immediately that this is not Meg. Ryan knows it’s not Meg because it’s Ray. He, however, isn’t sure why Ray thought he needed to trick them to get onto the training floor. Ryan’s been trying to talk to him for days after all. Of course, that doesn’t mean Rwby is happy when he enters the floor. This being said, she doesn’t bother pausing their session in the slightest, still dispensing grenades at the same rate.

“Ray, please exit the training floor immediately,” Rwby stresses out. Ray doesn’t even blink. He heads straight for Ryan without any sign of stopping. Ryan has changed his mind. He actually doesn’t want to talk to Ray right now at all. Fairly, every time Ray has come at him like this, is hasn’t meant anything good for Ryan.

“It’s okay Rwby,” Ryan assures swiftly.

“You have three seconds to exit the training floor,” Rwby continues on anyways. Whether she just didn’t hear him or isn’t paying attention to him is unclear. Regardless, it makes no visible difference to Ray. Jack makes a sudden jerk of a movement but Ryan doesn’t have the time to concentrate on what’s caused it at the moment. Taking his eyes off Ray is the last thing he wants to do basically ever he’s coming to relearn, especially when he’s upset and he’s very obviously upset.

“I said it’s fine, Rwby!” Ryan tells her again. Rwby begins to count down but for whatever reason, and it certainly isn’t because of anything he said or did, she stops and goes quiet. While Ryan initially considers the idea that this could be a much better conversation than the ones they’ve had so far, he quickly stop thinking that when Geoff throws the grenade he’s holding directly at Ray.

“Geoff!” Jack yelps. That’s neon green. Ryan backs up all at once, wanting to put as much room between them as possible and failing almost immediately when he hits the wall. Ray approaches on him without reluctance and without hesitation, palming the live grenade like the weapon it is. Obviously Geoff didn’t think Ray was dangerous enough bare handed!

“This is your fault,” Ray says sharply. Ryan hastily tries to keep the fuse time in his head but he’s already lost several seconds and trying to get back on track throws him off completely. He’s fairly certain Ray doesn’t want him dead but he also is holding a live grenade so what does Ryan really know?

“Yeah,” he replies without even thinking about it. “Please put the grenade down.”

“I’m on red restriction because of you,” Ray snaps and he points his finger harshly at Ryan’s face which would be a lot less intimidating if it wasn’t with the hand holding said grenade. The rest of the crew backs up carefully to a range of which they will be safely out of the blast. At least his datemates have his back!

“I will absolutely fix it,” he agrees blindly. Ryan has no idea how he got Ray put on red restriction or even how he’s going to fix it, but that’s really not an immediate issue with a live grenade in play. Of course, it especially doesn’t matter because it doesn’t seem like Ray is listening to him even remotely, anyways.

“I _helped_ you,” Ray bites sourly. Ryan nods. “Now you’re going to help me. You want to ‘make it up to me’? You want _another_ chance? Here it is and it’s your last. I’ve given you so many of them and you’re _not_ going to fuck it up this time. I’m so done with you holding me back, Ryan, and if the only way to stop you from doing that is to be rid of you, that’s fine with me.” That’s definitely a threat. That’s definitely a threat made with a live grenade staring him straight in the face. Maybe Ray wants him dead just a little bit. Ryan’s lost count of the time it’s been in play and that only makes it so much worse. Ray looks away from him for a moment, idly glancing back at the others before turning back to Ryan again. He doesn’t meet his eyes, though, glowering off to the side at nothing in particular.

“Don’t make me regret this,” he says tiredly. “Don’t.”

“Grenade,” Ryan murmurs and points at it. Ray looks it over shortly, almost as if he hadn’t even realised he’d been holding it, before chucking it aside without a care. He might not have, honestly.

“It’s a fucking dud, dude, chill,” Ray assures plainly. There’s no way Ryan could have known that without handling it! There’s definitely no way Geoff knew that, what the fuck Geoff? Why is this a discussion they’re going to have to have now? ‘Hey Geoff, don’t give my angry ex-boyfriend a live grenade maybe.’

“I thought it was talking a while to go off,” Geoff mumbles and Jack hits him hard in the chest. Ryan tries his best to catch his breath again, unaware until now how shallow his breathing had really been. It’s been a while since he’s been near a live grenade he wasn’t holding. Grenades are little more scary when he doesn’t have control of them. Also pretty scary when in the hands of a very angrily and slightly deleterious hired killer.

“I’m gonna go,” Ray says distractedly as he looks at his gloved hand with distant interest and examines his fingers almost curiously. He glances at Ryan halfly, an annoyed but tired expression painted on his pale features. “Renew our partnership. Don’t talk to me until you do.”

It’s fairly obvious that he’s in no mood to discuss this at all and when he leaves, no one make any effort to stop him. Of course, Ryan doubts anyone has anything to say to him, anyways. He is admittedly a little more confused now that he has time to process exactly what Ray had said to him. Red restriction is typically saved for agent incapable of performing even the most basic tasks and that usually means they’ve been injured substantially. It’s pretty cruel to put an able bodied agent on red restriction.

Ryan sadly considers that it might not be his body.

“I just got the weirdest sense of déjà vu,” Michael murmurs.

“Oh what? Ray pinning Ryan against the wall with a grenade and passive aggressively threatening him while we do nothing?” Geoff replies. “I wonder why.”

“He does seem to do that a lot,” Jack agrees faintly.

“So now what exactly?” Gavin questions, turning back to Ryan curiously. Well, considering Ryan does not want to potentially push Ray to actually murdering him, he supposes he’s going to have Rwby set them up to be partners again. Honestly, that hadn’t been Ryan’s intention at any point, he had only wanted to make things right again. While he’d be more than happy to work with Ray again, he’s not sure if he’s alright with it under these circumstances. It’s clear Ray doesn’t actually want to do this but is rather required to and that doesn’t bode well for the outcome of this. He’s not really sure Rwby will even allow them to be partners again especially if Ryan really is the cause of his red restriction.

“I guess Ray is going to be one of us now,” Geoff answers instead. “Burnie’s an insistent bastard when he wants to be.”

“I-?” Ryan says unsurely. “Suppose you’re right? About the first part, anyways. What does Burnie have to do with this?”

“Wow,” Geoff replies. “Nevermind.”

“He’s giving you a second chance at least,” Jack points out.

“And if you fuck it up, he’s probably going to slit your fucking throat,” Michael adds on in a sarcastically sweet tone.

“I’m gonna fuck it up,” Ryan says to himself mainly. “I’m going to fuck it up so bad.”

“ _No_ ,” Gavin promises immediately.

“Probably,” Geoff agrees.

\- x -

“So I’ve been thinking about something,” Gavin comments out of the blue. This probably isn’t going to lead to anything good, Jack can go ahead and say that right now. However, he make no effort to stop it just yet. Gavin, who had previously been invested in the rubiks cube Rwby has given him, now focuses more on where they’re walking. The crisp little clicks of him twisting the sections around still speckle the air, though, as he aimlessly tries to solve the little puzzle box.

“Oh god,” Michael groans. He has even less faith in this than Jack does. Fairly, nothing good ever seems to come out of Gavin thinking. It’s not a particularly long walk down to the labs where they are headed but Flynt needed some exercise before hand. Her breed can very easily become overweight and with the enclosed area of Roosterteeth, it’s important they walk her frequently. Well, Gavin is supposed to since he’s taken her on as his dog but that obviously didn’t last long especially since she is very big and will drag Gavin wherever she wants to go. Michael has a pretty good grip on her for now. She’s generally well behaved anyways.

“No,” Gavin assures quickly. “This is important.” They’ve definitely heard that before.

“Okay,” Jack replies slowly. “What have you been thinking about?”

“Well,” he begins somewhat unsurely. “If Ray had, you know, been lying the whole time and everything, what happened to Dan?” Oh. That’s- Jack doesn’t know the answer to that. He hadn’t even considered it, honestly. In fact, he hadn’t really considered the fall out of anything Ray had done. He’d basically been cleaning up their files in order to set up the bases for them to begin working here but that still meant Dan had to go back to SIS and explain what had happened, right? Unless Ray dealt with that, too.

Fortunately, Rwby has the answer to this. She tends to have the answer to most things of they bother to ask her. Sure enough, though, she’s beginning to offer up answers even when not questions. It’s sort of weird, honestly.

“Daniel Gruchy joined a private branch of Republica a little over a week ago,” she informs suddenly. “Codename, SLO. Dan has been tasked with the investigation of inner working intelligence.”

“Dan works for Republica?” Gavin questions warily.

“Yep!” Rwby assures.

“That’s great!” he says brightly. “I thought he was going to be in trouble or something!”

“Are there a lot of private branches of Republica?” Jack asks curiously. Again, it’s something he hadn’t really considered before. He supposes it makes sense, Roosterteeth is relatively small and yet Republica seems incredibly extensive.

“Certainly,” Rwby says. “In fact, organized branches like ours are pretty uncommon. Typically smaller, individual groups between one and ten people act under the direct command of the head of Republica.”

“So why is Roosterteeth so big?” Jack continues. It’s definitely interesting and if they’re going to be working here for the rest of their lives, he figures he might as well learn more about exactly what they’re working for. Gavin and Michael are significantly less interested but it’s not like they have to listen anyways.

“Roosterteeth has grown where something else has died,” Rwby answers. That’s a bit morbid, isn’t it? Jack decides that he’s done asking questions for the time being mostly to save Gavin and Michael the unfortunately daunting task of listening to interesting information.

There is not distinct difference between the lab and the rest of Roosterteeth, following the same decorative pattern and being very open and lightly coloured. Honestly, Jack likes the sterile feel of Roosterteeth as a whole. It feels very clean and fresh especially with the outward look onto the deep blue ocean. He can also see how that would unnerve other people, though, like Ryan. The two lab workers are already busy mid conversation when the lot of them arrive with Flynt.

“We’re not building Grif legs,” one of them assures bluntly.

“I’m just saying!” the other argues. “He would get exercise finally!”

“First of all, no he wouldn’t. I don’t know how you think mechanical legs or snakes work, but neither of them are correct,” his friend replies firmly. “Secondly, I don’t care if he would get exercise, I would shit my fucking pants if I saw a one hundred pound snake running at me full speed. That thing can eat people, Jeremy, you know that right?”

“Nah,” Jeremy says simply. “I’m pretty sure Grif won’t eat anything that moves. I mean, come on.”

“If you gave him mechanical legs, he would eat _everything_ ,” he promises loudly.

“See, this is why no one likes you Matt. You never want to take any chances,” Jeremy insists.

“People don’t like me because I am terrified of a thirteen foot python with legs?” Matt confirms. “I think I’m okay with that.”

“Hey dick for brains,” Michael gets their attention easily. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about but maybe you can knock it off for two seconds. We brought Flynt like you wanted.”

“Hey,” Jeremy says suddenly but it has little to do with what Michael had said. “From one to ten; snake with legs, how terrifying?”

“Uh, eleven,” Gavin answers without even having to consider it.

“Four and half,” Michael shrugs.

“Ten, jesus christ,” Jack assures. “You’re not going to actually do that, are you?”

“No,” Matt promises.

“Maybe,” Jeremy says. Jack has no desire to see a thirteen foot, hundred pound snake on legs. Fortunately, they seem to move on from the topic without much more thought. Instead, Matt crouches down a little to rub Flynt’s head gladly in both hands. Once she relaxes a little, he pushes his thumbs into her maw and examines her missing teeth. Flynt is far too calm for any of this to bother her any.

“Oh, this’ll be no problem,” Matt assures. “Just some quick anchors.” If it weren’t for the fact that it looks like she has trouble eating, Jack probably wouldn’t have even bothered with this. She’s not exactly an attack dog and it’s incredibly unlikely she’s ever going to be. If anything, she’s going to be ‘lead them into traffic’ dog. Already Flynt has nearly gotten both Gavin and Michael ran over by the subway. As Matt works carefully on Flynt’s mouth, Jeremy entertains the rest of them.

“How’s your face going?” Jeremy questions Michael curiously. He gestures to the fading scar over his face. It’s healing up fairly well thanks to whatever Blaine had given him but Michael’s habit of scratching at it is clearly going to leave scars. As if to prove this, Michael rubs his cheek harshly and causes several little bubbles of blood to arise from under the healing skin.

“Fine,” he huffs shortly. Of course Michael isn’t shockingly concerned about his outward appearance. He never really has been. By now, the rest of them don’t even notice it. What’s there to notice?

“That isn’t looking great,” Jeremy murmurs. Michael backs up though, squinting at the short lad suspiciously. Even though he had agreed to work here and even though he has shown some enjoyment in what Roosterteeth has to offer, it’s painfully clear how much Michael simply does not trust the people around here. Which Jack finds understandable all things considered. No one has really shown them any maliciousness though and given time, Michael will probably come to understand this.

“I swear to god, fucking spray me in the face with something else and see what happens,” Michael warns. It seems his and Gavin’s first trip down here was eventful. Granted, Michael may be reading some of these- _eccentric_ qualities as malicious.

“I gave you ample warning,” Jeremy assures. He apparently understands Michael’s warning all the same. “That’s probably going to scar. It should be easy to take care of, though.” Swiftly, he browses through his tablet and brings up an image on the wall for them to view. Initially, Jack doesn’t pay it a significant amount of attention. He’s too concerned with Matt sitting on the floor with his hands in Flynt’s mouth. She’s not a mean or aggressive dog, no, but if she freaks out he’s going to lose that hands without a doubt. Ray was right about one thing; she has a powerful bite.

However, Gavin stops turning his rubiks cube and Jack glances over faintly.

“Is that-?” Gavin begins slowly. “Is that Ray?”

“Yep!” Jeremy says gladly. “He had this gnarly scar on his face when he started working here. Well, not a scar really. It was more like a brand I guess? Either way, got rid of ‘em. Can't even tell he had it.” Jack can definitely see that. The series of images along the wall leave nothing to the imagination. A large section of Ray’s face is embedded with a thick, spiraled line that crosses his features without a care. It looks like his face has been pushed against an electric stove and- _oh_.

“Should you be showing us this?” Jack inquires carefully. It’s a legitimate question, too. He honestly isn’t sure if this is something that Ray would be alright with them seeing or not. After seeing him literally in the action of being branded, it feels like this wouldn’t be a significant deal and yet, Jack isn’t sure anymore. This is different. Matt glances at Jeremy for a moment before looking to the images displayed.

“That’s a good question, dude,” Matt says and Jeremy looks at him curiously.

“What?” he shrugs. “It wasn’t archived, why wouldn’t it be alright?”

“You have a point,” Matt agrees somewhat reluctantly.

“What happened to him?” Gavin asks. Now that is definitely something that they do not need to hear from Jeremy. Fortunately or otherwise, Jeremy just shrugs.

“I dunno. Never asked. Too afraid,” Jeremy says simply. That sounds about right. Jack can certainly take a wild guess as to how he got it, though, and it definitely wasn’t on accident. This explains something but he isn’t entirely sure what.

“Has Ryan seen this?” Jack questions. Jeremy shrugs again.

“Dude, come on, Ray scares me,” he says again. “You think I’m gonna talk to Ryan for no reason?” Sure, Ryan is a little odd but Jack doesn’t see him scary enough for someone like Jeremy to refuse to approach. Of course, Ryan is also his boyfriend but that means very little fairly. He certainly doesn’t want to approach Geoff right now.

“Should we-?” Michael gestures vaguely to the image. Should they tell Ryan? Jack has no idea. Probably not. They should probably pretend like they never saw this and hope for the best. The fact that Jeremy showed them this at all is a little discerning, actually, and gives them something to remember for later.

“I also have this,” Jeremey assures and he brings up another image. This one, unlike the first, is of Ryan sporting a rather bushy looking mustache. He doesn’t look very happy about it, either. Gavin starts laughing so hard it startles Flynt upright and he has to sit down.

“Okay,” Michael says. “Where is the nearest printer I can print this out life size at?”

“Michael no.”

\- x -

Finding Ray again is surprisingly easy, not that he’s been making an effort to complete avoid Ryan at any rate. Though that seems like it would be something difficult to do in such a small building when they live practically next door, he’s sure Ray could pull it off. Ray just lounges in the cafeteria with one of his handhelds; alone and mostly unbothered. Ryan glances at Geoff a bit and Geoff nods his head towards Ray insistently. Geoff isn't a good source of prime advice right now, though.

When they approach the table he's sat at, Ray glances up faintly. It's not a very _happy_ look but Ryan really can't expect much at this point. When was the last time he saw Ray happy? Before Ryan can get a word out, Ray does.

"I said renew _our_ partnership, not add me to your harem," Ray says irritably. Ryan is aware of what he said.

"It's the only way Rwby would allow it," Ryan assures him shortly. He had certainly tried, after all. Rwby seemed hesitant to even do that; a lot has happened between them. Ray just lets out a sigh. "How'd I get you on red restriction?"

"I wonder," Ray answers sarcastically. That didn't answer his question at all. He picks himself up and tucks his DS into his pocket before walking away from the table with juice box in hand. Geoff and Ryan follow. "Grab a spot on the training floor for parkour tomorrow. Just the two of us this time."

"Look, I get that you're still upset with me but you won't tell me why and you won't let me fix it and honestly, this whole attitude you got going on is really grating my nerves," Ryan insists quickly. It makes Ray stop and Geoff look at him incredulously. "You have to talk to me, Ray."

"Ryan," Ray says flatly. "Believe me when I tell you, I am doing everything in my ability to not just straight up send you to the morgue right now. _Don't push me_."

"Man, and I thought you were ornery before," Geoff mumbles. Yeah, that's helping the cause. Ryan isn't sure why he let Geoff come with him. "That's big talk for someone who can't even manage utensils right now." He draws attention to the little nicks on Ray's ungloved hand with a gesture of the head and Ray flexes his fingers suddenly. He shoves his hand in his pocket before looking back at Ryan tiredly.

"Keep your bang leader away from me until he stabilises," he says shortly. "I don't want him biting me."

"So you're just not gonna talk to me at all?" Ryan repeats, ignoring Geoff for the time being.

"Nope," Ray agrees. "The words coming out of your mouth are pissing me off. Parkour. Tomorrow. Don't bring your boy's club."

"Will you talk to me then?" Ryan asks irritably.

"Probs not," he assures without batting an eyelash. "I gotta go take a drug induced nap. See ya." Ray offers them a small nod of parting before continuing on his way with an obvious sign for them not to follow. Ryan sighs, rubbing his forehead between his fingers.

"You're so screwed, man," Geoff murmurs.

"You're not helping," Ryan promises.

"How mad would you be if I got on that, though?" he inquires and it's probably not serious. It's not funny, either.

"Geoff, if you can get Ray to talk to you at all, be my guest," he agrees blandly. It's clearly not going well for Ryan. He doubts it'd go well for Geoff either. This all feels so forced. Ray needed more time than this. He needs to talk to Gus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry about that sudden break i took to work on, uh, shitty game aus, but we are back again in an early update [late update?] and hopefully will be back to updating every weekend again after this following weekend. tune in next week where man stuff actually happens maybe who knows


	6. I'm Starting To Worry

Michael knocks on the door to one of the private lounge rooms firmly. He’s not really sure why he's bothered to come way down here but he figures he might as well do something now that he's here. After a few moments of no response, he recalls that physically knocking on Republica doors does basically nothing. On one hand, it’s pretty fucking ridiculous but on the other, he supposes considering the kind of shit that goes down around here, it’s a good thing that most of the room are ultra sound proof. He wakes up the screen on the door with a tap of a finger and then hits knock with few expectations for a reply.

This time, he’s not outright ignored. There is a short pause first though; a sigh the mic probably doesn't pick up or possibly one that just doesn't make a sound but triggers the com anyways.

“You need something?” Ray murmurs halfly over their headsets. Rwby manages all the frequencies, he guesses. It's definitely convenient if not eerily invasive. Everything about Rwby is invasive, really. Michael shrugs a bit though he doubts Ray is actually viewing him. He’s probably doing more important things to really care.

“Nah. Can I come in?” Michael asks shortly.

“Are you going to talk about Ryan?” Ray questions back.

“Wasn’t plannin' on it,” he scoffs irritably. He already knows Ray doesn’t want to talk about it and that’s fine. It’s not like anything Michael is going to say about it is going to change his mind, anyways. There’s nothing to talk about. The door unlocks and Michael lets himself in. Sure enough, Ray is completely focused on an intense game of Black Ops. He doesn’t even offer Michael any acknowledgement when he enters which is fine, honestly Michael doesn’t expect much from Ray at this point or ever.

He flops himself down in one of the recliners to relax. Despite more than enough comfortable places to sit, Ray has chosen the floor instead. Maybe Michael did have something in mind when he had started to seek Ray out but having to walk all the way down here in the late hours of the afternoon have begun to make him question if he should even bother. What are the chances he can believe anything Ray says to him anyways? Michael's beginning to wonder if he can even believe anything Ryan says. Not necessarily because he's lying but because he doesn't have a firm enough grip on the truth for himself. Ray, however, is just a liar.

"I got a question for you," Michael begins casually. He has come all the way down here so he might as well go ahead and go through with it, regardless of the reliability of Ray's answer or the lack of one. At this point, what could it really hurt? Besides Michael physically.

"Nope," Ray answers without skipping a beat. Michael ignores him.

"How much of what you did was a lie?" he asks. "In Los Santos I mean." Not everything he did could have been faked, right? Maybe manipulated but even that Michael doesn't believe. Ray had said it himself, after all, they had been unpredictable. It feels less like it was a perfectly orchastrated series of events and more along the lines of Ray trying to corral several wild animals with a stick and some cheese.

"What?" Ray replies with a half jerk of the shoulders. "I don't even know what that means."

"I mean like, did you really fucking get kidnapped or what?" Michael barks back. Ray knows exactly what he means. Or, well, maybe he doesn't. To some extent, Michael does mean what happened with Ryan, too, and he understands Ray being purposefully ignorant about that but he had already said he wasn't going to talk about Ryan. Ray snorts.

"You want to know if I walked into a gang hideout and asked them to just fuck me up?" he clarifies. He's not wrong. "No, I didn't. That was some real torture porn right there. Same thing would have happened if they had gotten their hands on any of you."

"Uh, thanks I guess?" Michael murmurs halfly.

"Don't mention it," Ray assures plainly and while it could be taken in a friendly fashion, it's surely not and Michael will not be bringing it up again. Remembering the grotesque brand on the picture Jeremy had showed them and then realising Ray had to go through something like that again instead of one of them makes him want to cringe a little. He brushes the thought aside.

"The Insurrection hated Geoff that much?" Michael asks. Ray glances at him a bit but his attention never remains away from his game for very long. This isn't a conversation he has any interest in, after all. If anything, he just wants to get this over with so Michael will go away. Then again, why would Ray have let him in if that were the case? Why did Ray let him in at all?

"They weren't Insurgents. I just didn't want Geoff running in there with his dick out like an asshole and getting in over his head. Sergeno or Servano or Sergeant maybe? Something like that. I dunno," Ray says absently. He certainly doesn't sound like he cares at all which is probably why he doesn't remember. He doesn't seem to retain information on a lot of things he doesn't care about.

"He hated Geoff enough he would have killed one of us?" Michael confirms curiously. Their lives had definitely been in danger, there was no lie there. The reason may have been a little skewed but it's not like they've never lied to each other, either. Ray shrugs coldly.

"Why don't you fucking ask Geoff? he scoffs sourly. "I'm busy."

"Because I'm fucking asking you," Michael snaps right back. There's no way he'd get a straight answer from Geoff especially with his current attitude. Besides, Ray will be blunt with it if nothing else. Ray huffs loudly, a noise of displeasure and impatience, but he continues on anyways.

"Geoff was a fucking animal; ruined a lot of people's lives. Just some dude from the military he screwed over in the process," Ray explains without much interest.

"Wasn't he just, like, a camera man?" Michael questions. That's not exactly what Geoff had told them but it's what he strongly implied. Of course, they all 'strongly implied' things. For a while there, Michael had them believing he was an electrician and handyman for a small time mob.

"They _called_ him 'the photographer'," Ray murmurs. "They called him a lot of things."

"How much do you know about us?" Michael insists. This is stuff even they didn't know about Geoff and they've been together for years. It certainly doesn't sound like the Geoff Michael knows and in some ways, that's a little concerning. Is that what Geoff's going to turn into?

"Trust me, I'm trying to forget everything about you guys," Ray promises. That clearly isn't going well for him.

"What about Ridley, then? Why did she even come to Los Santos? There was never any reward, right?" Michael moves on. When everything had been happening, there hadn't been a lot of time to question it and now that he has some retrospect, things aren't quite lining up from his view.

"Because I killed Samus," Ray says simply. "They didn't really like that. Didn't like me ripping his head off, either. They were kinda dramatic about it, though."

"So why was Samus there?" Michael follows up. Ray sighs irritably.

"To kill you, what else? He must've caught wind that you were still alive and came down to take care of you himself and earn some rep or something. I dunno, man. I just had to take out Ridley and Kraid and he showed up so I went with it," he murmurs. That makes some amount of sense at least. Michael had always wondered why they hadn’t just killed him when they kicked him out of the family. Maybe Republica had a hand in that, too. Obviously they were still expecting him to die when they dropped him off with no cash, no papers, and no idea where he was.

Did he mention they literally dropped him out of an airplane after pumping him full of enough drugs that he physically couldn’t stand. Yeah. Important.

“Don’t get me wrong, Ridley was a huge fucking cunt and Kraid was probably an even bigger fucking cunt, but they were like cunts in love like,” Michael makes an obscene ‘scissoring’ gesture with his fingers and Ray looks at him oddly. “There’s no way she would have turned on Kraid like that I don’t think.”

“She also loved Samus. Joel and Adam convinced her it was Kraid’s fault and that he would get her killed too and paranoia took the rest,” Ray comments easily. “I would've targeted Kraid instead, way less scary, but he would have crumpled like- things that crumple easily.”

“Holy shit, dude,” is all Michael can really respond with. That was kind of harsh even for them. Sure, Samus had effectively thrown him under the bus and apparently was completely ready to kill him and sure, Ridley and Kraid were assholes who had never really been his friend but that all seems a little unnecessary. Ray easily could have executed all three of them and it wouldn't have made much of a difference. Then again, what did Ray do that was completely necessary?

“Protocol,” Ray shrugs. “Gotta get rid of anyone that could pose a problem for you in the future before you start working for Republica. Chain reactions happen sometimes.” There isn’t a doubt in Michael’s mind that Ray would have destroyed an entire ladder of gang members if he had needed to. This is probably why he didn’t need to. His ex-family was pretty good at knowing when to cut their losses and honestly, Ridley and her boys weren’t exactly big losses anyways. Michael definitely hadn’t been a big loss. Like they said, he was a ticking time bomb of liabilities. Maybe he still is.

“So they would have come after us eventually is what you’re saying?” Michael assures.

“Dunno,” Ray answers halfly. “That’s the idea, though, yeah.” These are all things they probably could have handled on their own if it weren’t for the fact Ray had coerced them all to happen in a short span of time. Not to mention he aggravated the situations way beyond their control. Ray’s entire involvement in their conflicts in itself had made them impossible to do alone. Michael has to wonder how they would have managed alone. They always seem to pull through some ridiculous shit, honestly.

“What about you?” Michael asks.

“What about me?” Ray replies.

“Seems to me, you’re a big problem to Ryan right now,” he points out suggestively. Ray doesn’t even hesitate; doesn’t give it a second thought. He’s probably not ‘unaware’ of this and likely never has been.

“Yeah," he murmurs. "Tried to deal with that but Ryan had to go and run his mouth. He ruins everything." It never ceases to be weird to hear about Ryan from someone else. Careful, cautious, smart, but far too ready to just say 'fuck it' and try anything Ryan. He's put them in some difficult positions before but honestly, that's just a requirement of being a Fake. Michael wonders if Ryan really did ruin anything for Ray though, or if Ray just has unrealistic expectations for him and himself.

"Do you still love him?" Michael asks. Ray looks at him, a gaze held slightly longer than any of the previous but still overall short.

"This totally counts as talking about Ryan," Ray assures.

"Just answer the fucking question," Michael snaps back.

"No," Ray says. It's not vague or soft like the last time Michael thought to ask; he doesn't have to read between the lines. "I deserve better."

But then again, Ray's a liar.

"Call pending; Jack Pattillo," Rwby informs. Sometimes it's difficult for Michael to tell if Rwby is just talking to him or the entire room; these mics are really good. Ray makes no suggestion he's heard, though, and Michael accepts the private call.

"Where are you Michael?" Jack inquires right off the bat. He doesn't sound that concerned but fairly, Michael hasn't even been gone half an hour. How they even knew he wasn't in his room is absolutely amazing.

"Out," he answers shortly and Ray glances at him curiously. Michael waves a hand at him to assure he isn't being spoken to. "What's wrong? Can't I leave for five minutes without you hunting me down?"

"You should head back," Jack mumbles and he sighs with sudden animosity. "Geoff made Gavin cry and Ryan immediately got into a fist fight with him. I'm gonna fucking kill him, Michael. I really am."

"I've been gone literally five minutes!" Michael shouts. "What the fuck?"

"Just- You're the only one that can stand him right now. I seriously- Geoff I fucking see you! Are you looking for another black eye because that's what you're about to get," Jack yells suddenly. He's really been stressed out lately and it's starting to show. Admittedly, they're all a little stressed out about Geoff right now. Rwby keeps assuring that this is all perfectly normal and they just need to be patient but Geoff's really pushing it.

"I'm coming," Michael scoffs as he gets to his feet. "Just chill out."

"Thank you," Jack sighs. The call drops and Michael stretches his shoulders a little. Ray tosses his controller aside in the same movement, pushing his hair back and ruffling the long strands between his fingers tiredly. He's still wearing that glove; he certainly hadn't worn it before. Michael doesn't bring it up

“Well Geoff’s apparently having a fucking fit again,” Michael mentions offhandedly. Ray doesn’t make any obvious response, simply turning the screen he had been playing his game on off and getting to his feet in a jerky motion. He brushes himself off a bit before shoving his hands safely in his pockets.

“You guys are idiots," Ray says after a few moments of delay. Michael can't really argue with this all things considering. As he goes to leave the room, Ray follows him. They do live on the same floor, only a few rooms apart. It's a quiet walk, though, with Michael knowing when to keep his mouth shut and Ray obviously having no interest in initiating anything himself. What could he have to say to any of them anymore?

It's only when they bypass Ray's room and Ray is still following him does Michael realise Ray is apparently coming with him. Which is by all accounts weird but Michael keeps this to himself, too. Ray understands Ryan's going to be there, right? The door to Jack's room is unlocked already, like all their doors, and Rwby lets him in without stall.

"Don't touch me," is the first thing Michael hears Ryan growl out when they enter the room. It becomes obvious fairly quickly how poor things had gone in such a short time. Ten minutes, twenty _maybe_. Ryan sits on one side of the couch with an ice pack held against his face and Geoff on the other, attempting to reach out and touch Ryan's knee. Geoff's eye, sure enough, is already swollen and there's a bit of blood around his mouth like he's bitten himself.

"Come on, babe," Geoff insists. "You're being a moody _bitch_ like Jack."

"Geoff," Ryan says between his teeth. "God I love you but if you don't shut your fucking mouth right fucking now."

"What's your fucking problem, now?" Michael snaps right away. Jack hovers near the bathroom door where Gavin is most likely held up. It looks like Geoff did a lot more than just hurt his feelings. Geoff rolls his eyes.

"My problem?" he snorts. "What problem? I don't have a problem."

"What the fuck did you say to Gav?" Michael barks angrily.

"Nothin' that wasn't true," Geoff assures halfly. Ryan glances at Michael sourly, his gaze only momentarily flickering to Ray right behind him, but making no acknowledgments about it.

"Excuse me for paraphrasing, I don't have the stomach for verbal _bile_ like Geoff does, but it was roughly along the lines of, you know, us not loving him, him being useless, Geoff assuring him of his sudden and violent death- the usual," Ryan explains irritably.

"Holy shit," Michael says plainly. "Holy fucking shit."

"That's pretty normal," Ray comments from the sides. No! It's fucking not! Not for Geoff, at least. Jack glowers at him but it doesn't have much of an effect on Ray so he simply goes back to trying to coerce Gavin from the bathroom.

"Is it, though?" Ryan scoffs. "Because I'm fairly certain threatening your long term boyfriend with death is less normal and more absolutely horrible, _you fucking piece of shit, Geoff_."

"It's called 'filter feeding'," Ray explains. "He wants to see how much it'll take to chase you away and if you'll come back. It's pretty much a completely self destructive defense mechanism since he won't stop even if you stay. It should pass once he gets a better grip on himself."

"I'm not doing that," Geoff snorts in agitated amusement. "Who the hell are you to psychoanalyze me, anyways?"

"You guys know there's like a whole article on disassociation, right?" Ray offers without paying Geoff the slightest bit of attention. "That, like, explains all this stuff? And what you can do or, you know, not do. Like hit him in the fucking face."

"Ryan hits like a bitch, anyways," Geoff promises.

"Is there something we can do to make him shut his fucking face already?" Michael snarls irritably.

"Dude, just ignore him. They're just words," Ray shrugs halfly. With the same mouth he weaves such intricate lies with, he claims them meaningless. He's not exactly wrong, Michael supposes, but there's an irony to it he can't explain. Stuff like that is easy for Ray to say.

"Geoff, you need to leave," Jack finally says. "Just- don't be here. Gavin isn't going to come out and honestly, I don't want him to if you're going to keep being a dick." That's obviously not going to happen right now. The only silver lining is that Geoff isn't actively this much of an asshole all the time. It happens in little bursts they're rarely ready for. Geoff gets to his feet with every intention of leaving.

"I really wouldn't suggest that," Rwby interrupts. "Geoff is on stress watch and should not be left alone." Oh, of course. Now of all times they absolutely have to be with him. Michael glances at Jack who shakes his head and Ryan who very plainly does the same. They're certainly not volunteering to do it. He grits his teeth a little. Geoff's well being is important, yeah, but so is Gavin's and that wouldn't be an issue if not for Geoff in the first place.

"Wow," Ray says coldly. "Okay. I literally have no idea how the five of you managed to make this work so long. Geoff can come with me. We can be stress watch buddies together.” Well that sounds like an awful idea. However, it’s definitely better than their other choices right now, the other choices being Geoff possibly aggressing on one of them instead.

“Usually I require dinner first but I think I can make an acception,” Geoff assures. Ryan snorts an obnoxious laugh.

“The amount of people that haven’t bought you dinner ‘first’ and the amount of people in this room who you’ve tried to suck off within the hour of meeting them is the same number,” he promises pointedly.

“Are you saying I don’t have standards?” Geoff snaps back quickly.

“Stop,” Jack says at once. “Just stop. I don't even want to look at you right now, Geoff."

Geoff scoffs.

\- x -

"You're sleeping on the floor, by the way," Ray comments as he unlocks the door to his apartment. It's not exactly a long walk from Jack's apartment but Geoff appears to have already swung back. This is likely because he's away from the people he knows he'll get a reaction out of. Ray isn't, and never has been, interested in amusing Geoff's aggression. The only way he'd managed to urge Ray into a fight over who was the metaphorical 'alpha dog' was by literally putting hands on him.

Ray isn't in the mood to have hands on him right now and Geoff probably knows that.

"Oh what?" he huffs back. "I can't even sleep on the couch?"

"If you can fall asleep on the couch, be my guest," Ray assures. He doesn't plan on sleeping, especially with Geoff in his room, and it's likely when Geoff realises this, he won't be either. Honestly, Ray hasn't slept in his room for several days now. His bed is his private space, however, and he has no intention of sharing it with anyone regardless of whether he's sleeping in it or not.

Ray keeps most of his room clean save for the area in front of the TV where he usually plays his games. The open, but still close and confined, space makes him feel better. Geoff looks around as Ray closes and locks the door behind them. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have allowed, let alone invited, any of them to his room for any reason. However, this is more beneficial to both of them than it is harmful to Ray.

While Ray has been on stress watch so much it's basically meaningless to him, actually doing something about it means Rwby will leave him alone. It really is a redundant watch, though. It's basically Rwby saying 'you might unintentionally hurt yourself or something else but only if you're alone'. The very idea of stress watch cancels out the need for it.

"Man, you and Ryan are really let downs, you know?" Geoff murmurs faintly. "I was expecting, like, hot guy posters and figurines or something. Where's all your embarrassing shit?" Ray shrugs as he turns his Xbox on and makes himself comfortable on one end of the couch. Geoff watches him for a moment before looking around again, finding nothing of interest, and joining Ray. His eye is beginning to black already and he rubs it with the back of his hand before thinking better of it.

"What am I supposed to do?" Geoff asks vaguely, already annoyed and short tempered once more. Ray shrugs again. He doesn't care even remotely what Geoff does. " _Thanks_."

"I'm not babysitting you," Ray reminds him pointedly. "You're a grown man. Figure it out, champ." To this, Geoff gives him a dirty look and Ray only shrugs harder. He puts his attention on his game, picking up where he'd left not too long ago. Due to recent circumstances, he's really fallen behind getting some of the more difficult achievements; he just hasn't had the time.

Being on red restriction is obviously helping with that. Hm, not be on red restriction or get achievements? Ray's going to have to go with 'not be on red restriction', one of the few things he'd choose achievements over. Which is weird if he thinks about it too long, actually. Like most times when anyone from the Fake is around, Ray doesn't have to think about it very long.

"I meant it, you know," Geoff murmurs. Ray can take a wild guess as to what he's talking about but right now, there is no weight to his words. There's never any weight to words like that, Ray's coming to find out. He thinks this is something he should already know and yet, he's made this mistake more than once.

'I could see myself loving you.'

Ray won't be making that mistake again.

It's a fluid movement, Geoff's hand on his thigh first and then Geoff's lips on his. Last time, it was the stale taste of beer and oak. This time it's copper; blood. Sterile, Ray thinks, and sharp. Geoff kisses warmly, though, grasping Ray's chin between the thumb and index of his other hand and meeting his unresponsiveness with feathered touches. It's definitely not aggressive or forceful but it also lacks question.

Ray bends Geoff's fingers on his thigh back. This gets his attention quickly and he lets go of Ray's face in order to prevent his fingers from being broken. Ray pulls them back harder when Geoff tries to yank away and they meet eyes firmly.

"Touch me like that again without my permission," Ray says coldly. "Double dog dare you."

Geoff doesn't.

\- x -

Gavin says he's fine, honest, and that it startled him more than anything but Ryan can only be glad Ray took Geoff away for the night. Out of all of them, Gavin seems to understand the best that Geoff isn't himself right now. It's not that Ryan doesn't understand that, it's just that he doesn't think it's an excuse, only an explanation. It certainly doesn't help that these aren't things that have come out of no where.

These are the things Geoff's been hiding behind his booze.

Ryan understands that, too, sure. There are a lot of things he hides and blends into his own, personal mask that would make his datemates look at him differently, too. He doesn't think of Geoff any differently because of this, he's just concerned that maybe this isn't the right way to go about things for Geoff. Maybe booze was the only thing strong enough to hide this side of Geoff. What worries Ryan the most is that Geoff doesn't even seem to _want_ to drink anymore.

Rwby promises Geoff will go back to normal over time and it hasn't even been a month yet but if Geoff has already given up trying to hide this side of him, maybe he doesn't want to go back. What if he stays like this? Worse yet, what if Republica wants him to stay like this and Rwby is lying to all of them.

"Yo, hey," Ray says as he snaps his fingers in front of Ryan's face. "You having a fucking stroke? What the fuck, man?" Ryan looks down at him quickly, pushing any thoughts of Geoff out of his head. As much as he wishes Geoff was his only problem right now, he's not.

"I'm fine," Ryan promises. "Just thinking."

"Do you still do that thing where you swear when you get too nervous?" Ray asks.

"What?" Ryan huffs indignantly. "I've never done that." Ray gives him a look of disbelief but makes no further comment about it. There's something different about Ray. Ryan puts his finger on it almost immediately. Oh god, he's cut his hair. Not even cut, more like completely buzzed the sides. It's certainly different.

"What?" Ray scoffs sourly and then mumbles under his breath, "it was getting pull length."

"Nothing," Ryan replies at once. "It looks nice." Ray runs his hand over his head with a sharp exhale but he doesn't say anything; not a 'thanks' but not a 'fuck off', either. He heads for the training floor and Ryan naturally follows him. As long as he doesn't bring up anything Ray doesn't want to talk about, they should be fine. Of course, Ray doesn't want to talk about anything.

They drop their things off right outside one of the entrances and Ryan opens up the floor for them to start. Rwby prompts them to begin stretching right off the bat, designating two spots for them a safe distance away from one another. Ray stretches in silence and while Ryan should leave it alone, he doesn't.

"Thanks for watching Geoff last night," he murmurs. "And sorry for anything he said."

"Don't get punched in the mouth," Ray warns. Ryan sighs exasperatedly. He doesn't even know what he did this time.

"I am only showing gratitude for something you didn't have to do," he assures shortly. Ray shoots him an annoyed glare but again, doesn't feed the conversation. "How could you possibly be mad at me for saying 'thank you'?"

"Geoff isn't a burden on you," Ray says coldly. "He's your boyfriend. Act like it." What is that supposed to mean? Ryan decides to quit while he's ahead. He can already see this going down the road of painfully bringing up their past relationship together and Ryan isn't eager to do that right now. Or ever.

"Please stand clear," Rwby instructs when they've stretched enough. Ryan backs up to the outer wall, standing behind the yellow light along the ground, and Ray does the same. It's been a while since Ryan's been here and watching Rwby construct massive buildings with intricate details proves to still be amazing. Phyllis used to do it, too, but nothing to this extent. It used to take an hour at least to draw up stages that were so obviously synthetic. Rwby does it in a few minutes and if it weren't for the fact that the buildings are hollow, they could easily be mistaken for the real deal.

That's really high. Ryan has never made an effort to master his parkour skill, he's learned that it's not particularly useful with his set of skills, but he's not completely new to the art. That being said, this is probably out of his rusted level and he's absolutely going to break his fucking back. Ray also seems dissatisfied.

"This is for two people," he complains irritably. It looks like he's right, Ryan can already see some ledges and gaps that would require teamwork to maneuver.

"There are two of you," Rwby replies. Ray wants to argue, but he doesn't. Instead, he looks at Ryan coldly like this is his fault too. Fairly, Ryan knows that everything about this situation stems from the chain reaction he set off but come on. Ray is being spiteful just for the sake of being spiteful. He is literally angry over something he's refusing to let Ryan fix.

"Play something, Rwby," Ray instructs as he chalks his ungloved hand. Rwby starts music in the background, just noise to stop it from being so quiet, and Ryan chalks his own hands. Ray examines the structure again from a distance before letting out a small scoff. He looks at Ryan halfly. It's not like Ryan's going to admit to being unsure about this. Besides, he won't know until he tries.

"Just keep up," Ray insists and then he's running towards the building. Ryan nearly laughs. He remembers that. He remembers the beginning of their partnership when Ryan hadn't been sure if Ray was capable enough. 'Keep up or get out the way.' Ray had kept up, though, and then he'd surpassed Ryan completely. It'll be a challenge to keep up with Ray.

Ryan misses this.

It takes Ryan a few minutes to get back into things, making several amature mistakes as he scales the first story, but it's easy to remember. Knowing how to do something and physically being capable of it are two very different things, though. Ray's already far ahead of him and he forces himself to pick up the pace. This is physically straining but not enough to deter Ryan just yet only make him regretful that he hadn't kept in shape in Los Santos. Weirdly enough, he'd never had the urge to scale a thirty story building in Los Santos.

At the third story, Ryan comes across a ledge he can't reach. A quick survey of the area doesn't give him much help, either. Ray's going to leave him behind at this rate. He has no doubt in his mind that Ray would try to complete a two person course on his own. Just as he's about to cave and call for help, though, Ray appears over the edge. He braces himself on the ground and holds both hands down to give Ryan a hand up.

Honestly, Ryan's surprised. He doesn't dautle, quickly hooking arms with Ray to leverage himself up enough to get a grip on the ledge for himself. Even once he has a firm grip, Ray grabs the back of his shirt to assure he makes it up. He's definitely a lot stronger than he used to be. Admittedly, that probably has to do with him being older, too.

"Thanks," Ryan murmurs.

"No problem, man," Ray answers. It's a start. They continue up more or less together from there. Ray stops every so often to allow Ryan to catch up but he never falls far behind. It's a long way down from here already. Ryan's never been afraid of heights but he has no reason to look down; he's not going that way hopefully. Despite their time apart, it's easy for Ryan to work with Ray again. He still remembers the little things about him that never really change. Unfortunately, the same doesn't appear to be true for Ray. He has to keep looking for where Ryan is and will try to do things he knows he can't do himself before taking Ryan's help.

They take a breather about halfway up. Ryan's already exhausted and sore but he's made it this far. Another fifteen stories seems easy. He's going to regret thinking that, isn't he? He's going to regret it so hard. Ray isn't out of breath like Ryan, but he rolls his shoulders and back like he's hurt. For all Ryan knows, he might be.

"Joel-" Ray says and then immediately tries to take it back. "Shit, I mean Ryan." Huh, so that's irrationally annoying. "Whatever the hell your name is."

"It's still Ryan," he promises with a bit of vinegar. Ray doesn't linger on it and neither does Ryan.

"We gotta switch, man, I can't keep lifting your heavy ass," he insists. Ryan thinks it's less that he's heavy and more that Ray is running out of energy. He almost looks nauseous right now. When was the last time he ate?

"Yeah, that's fine," Ryan assures. He's not going to suggest they call it a day just yet. Ray clearly needs this. When they get back to it, Ryan goes up first this time with a boost from Ray and then pulls him up next. The further they go up, the further the ledges get apart and the more they have to maneuver to get from one to the other. There are less places to rest, too, making it more and more difficult to relax before moving on. Ten more floors.

Ray moves as easy as he always has, keeping himself low and balanced on tight edges and using his trained flexibility to get himself up and over obstacles Ryan struggles with. His smaller size gives him an advantage, anyways, as he's lighter and fits into spaces Ryan doesn't. Ryan knew this going in. This isn't a competition, though, he's just here because Rwby wouldn't let Ray do it on his own. He still has questions about that but he doesn't trust Rwby to answer them.

For Ryan, shimmying is the hardest part. It's not easy to hold his weight on his fingers and simultaneously move so it comes to no surprise when he inevitably slips while doing it. His heart jumps into his throat the second he realises his grip is unsalvageable and he doesn't have a landing spot. There's a short pause where he isn't completely sure what's happening when he doesn't fall like a stone.

"Yep, that's my arm dislocating. That's my arm dislocating hard," Ray says loudly. Ryan hurriedly reaches to find some kind of purchase before he completely processes what's going on but the upper ledge is still out of his reach. He'll only fall again if he tries to hang on the lip. Ray manages to pull him up enough for him to anchor one hand but he has to let go soon after or risk his already damaged shoulders. Ryan steadies himself quickly and swings his body enough to get one of his legs hooked on the ledge. From there, he drags himself over the edge with Ray keeping a hold on him just in case he slips again.

Ryan exhales loudly once he's on sturdy ground. He thinks parkour is scary for him personally because there's so much stuff to hit on the way down. Falling from a plane is mostly open space; falling from a building is hitting every ledge on the way down.

"You okay?" Ray offers. Ryan nods. He would have been fine if he'd fallen, Rwby would have assured it, but not falling is great. Ray didn't let him fall, though, and there's really no reason he shouldn't have. They're not exactly going to make record time here, anyways.

As Ryan gets to his feet, he notices the little drops of blood on the clearing and the smears on his arm. He checks himself for any cuts but he's uninjured.

"Uh, are you?" Ryan echoes. Unlike him, Ray is very obviously bleeding. It wasn't obvious to Ray. He looks at his hand suddenly, his glove practically soaked and now dripping dark red blood.

"Oh fuck," Ray sighs as he shakes his hand and flings blood everywhere. It looks like he might have busted a stitch or something. Ray holds his hand out to let some of the blood drip off but he holds his glove on firmly. "Ah shit."

"I think we're done," Ryan assures. He needs to go and have that looked at immediately; that's a lot of blood.

"What? No way," Ray huffs back, holding his hand away from himself now. "There's only like five more floors."

"You're bleeding a lot, Ray," Ryan points out. "You shouldn't be doing this with an injured hand always."

"Nah, I wanna finish," Ray argues stubbornly. Of course he does.

"Let me see your hand at least," Ryan instructs.

"Fuck off," is Ray's short response. He tucks his clearly injured hand under his arm where it's apparently going to stay and blood immediately soaks into his hoodie. Alright, well, this is going to happen. Ray is unusually determined right now and whether it's just to spite Ryan or not, there's no arguing with him.

They go right back into it. Five more levels. Ray makes no effort to use his busted hand and they have to go back to Ryan hoisting him up first and Ray pulling Ryan up. It's more difficult with one hand but Ray keeps going. Ryan's going to be in so much pain tomorrow after all this. They have to separate to get through a gate and Ray takes slightly longer than necessary to come back around.

Ryan just doesn't want him to pass out up here. Like most of his injuries, Ray just bulls through it. Three floors from the top and he's already using his hand again, leaving bloodstains everywhere. By the time they're climbing the final ledge, Ryan's arm is painted with a thin layer blood. It would bother him less if Ray didn't look sick in the face.

When they finally reach the top, Ray instantly flops down to the ground in exhaustion. Ryan doubles over on himself to catch his breath. He was wrong- he's sore now. More so, however, he's absolutely amazed Ray completed this with him. He seemed so angry with him, Ryan hadn't thought this would work out. He thought Ray would leave him behind surely and they'd run out of time before anything else.

"Elevated heart rate detected," Rwby states. Ryan glances up a little and then to Ray. Considering this workout, Ryan doesn't think he's the one who set off the alert. Ray, however, doesn't look particularly disturbed. He stands slowly and steadily, tucking his hand safely under his arm once more.

"I gotta go," Ray mumbles distantly.

"Please get your hand fixed," Ryan says with a passive sigh. "And eat something, would you?"

"Yeah," Ray answers. "Thanks, Ry."

This is positive progress, Ryan thinks, finally.

The walk back to their rooms gradually makes Ryan more and more sore as he cools down. The mild workouts Rwby had him doing before this were not nearly as demanding and thus didn't do a lot to prepare him for something he very clearly shouldn't have attempted. By the time he gets to Michael's room where they're all held up, every part of him aches.

Rwby lets him in without the need for knocking and Ryan manages not to collapse immediately. Geoff and the lads are huddled up on the couch closely, taking turns kissing him and then each other. Ryan's just glad he's somewhat normal for the time being. Jack on the other hand, lies in bed with tablet in hand. When Ryan had left, he was reading the article Ray had mentioned and he likely still is.

Ryan gestures his head towards the lads curiously and Jack shrugs. Michael seems to have a better handle on this situation when it comes to ignoring or 'defusing' Geoff anyways. Tiredly, Ryan lies himself face down on the bed beside Jack and gladly lets some of the strain roll off. It's a good kind of ache as opposed to the kind that comes from fighting a fight he doesn't want to have.

"How'd it go?" Jack questions. He places his PDD aside to instead put a hand between Ryan's shoulder blades and apply soft pressure. Ryan groans happily.

"Good," he assures. "He cut his hair. It's cute."

"There's blood on your arms, Ryan," Jack points out as he sits up and works his hands against Ryan's back. Man that's nice.

"Ray's," Ryan explains simply.

"Okay," Jack says slowly. "Go back. Why is Ray's blood all over your arms? You said it went 'good'."

"He popped some stitches in his hand, I think. God, a little higher please. Oh yeah, right there," Ryan groans, little more than mush in Jack's hands. The fine pressure right across his shoulders and at the base of his neck makes it easy to forget the soreness in the rest of him. Jack straddling his back is monumentally better. He doesn't even want to go to sleep but rather just lay here peacefully.

"Is he alright?" Jack murmurs.

"I'm not sure," Ryan replies. "It went better than I expected, though, so I'm sure something is going to go horribly wrong. We'll just have to wait and see."

"Are you going to be able to walk tomorrow?" he asks suggestively.

"Jack, if I get out of this bed sometime this week it would be an absolute miracle. Please god never let me parkour again."


	7. About Ray

"If we're going to be working with Ray, we should know more about him, right?" Gavin mentions out of the blue. Ryan can't imagine what made him think of this now considering he's stopped kissing Michael to bring it to attention. Of course, Michael doesn't mind too much, moving on to nuzzle Gavin's neck and jaw. Rwby gave him something to 'calm down' and it's certainly working.

"At this point, I doubt I know much more about Ray than the rest of you do," Ryan assures as he takes his attention off his rubix cube. It's a test of sorts, one that Ryan had never been particularly good at. In theory, it should be easy enough but there's just something about it that's hard for him to wrap his brain around. In a shocking turn of events, Gavin seems to have done the best at this test, figuring something like 19! possibilities in about four hours which is statistically a lot. Then again, this could just be a combination of Gavin's twitchy fingers and inability to remained focused.

"He means we want to see some video of you two," Geoff assures blandly. For the time being, Geoff is more or less normal, lounging beside Jack comfortably on the couch. Jack cards his fingers through the back of Geoff's hair absent mindedly as he reads through yet another article he's found interest in. Rwby is more than happy to supply anything they need or want; drugs, reading material- videos. People rarely go wanting at Rooster Teeth.

"Haven't you already watched them on your own?" Ryan inquires scathingly.

"No?" Michael snorts halfly. "You asked us not to, so we didn't." Everyone vaguely shakes their heads as a sort of agreement that they hadn't done so either. Ryan is a little impressed. Not that impressed, though. They were likely just too busy or possibly, Rwby wouldn't allow them. He sighs to himself.

"I guess," he agrees reluctantly. At least this way he'll have some control over what they see. Ryan isn't hiding anything specifically from them, but he feels like it's inappropriate for his current boyfriends to see unintentional sex tapes from his last relationship. In fact, it's super inappropriate. He thinks about it for a moment, considering some of his and Ray's missions together from before they were a couple. The rubix cube ticks away quietly in his fingers.

"Don't try to leave out the juicy parts, either," Geoff insists. Ryan ignores him.

"Rwby, do you have video from conduct key Oblivion RH dash RNJ?" Ryan asks. He's been gone a long time, it's entirely possible Ray has deleted some of their videos. Not to mention Phyllis' glitch could have inadvertently wiped some of them off the map.

"I do!" Rwby assures gladly.

"Go ahead and play it, please," he instructs. She turns the lights down unnecessarily and whatever ridiculous rerun they were watching for noise disappears in favour of broadcasting the video in question. Republica has always been very thorough and the video starts out right from them leaving Roosterteeth. It's an uninteresting and quiet few hours, Ryan knows, so he goes ahead and skips this part.

"Use my video preferences," he tells her simply.

"Sorry Ryan," Rwby answers immediately. "Your preferences are no longer valid with my database." That's annoying. He could take the time to fix that now but he puts it off for the time being. When he has a moment to adjust it properly, he will.

"Sequence events only, then?" Ryan requests. She takes several seconds to try and figure out what this means before coming back with an answer.

"I'm sorry, Ryan, I don't understand," Rwby says. Ryan runs a hand through his hair tiredly. This is an obvious sign that they shouldn't be watching any of these videos. Of course, he ignores it like an idiot because it's not like there's ever going to be a good time to watch them.

"Can you use Ray's preferences?" Ryan asks shortly.

"Certainly!" she finally agrees. At least Ray will probably only be interested in action shots. Ryan can't say he's in much of a mood to reminiscent. Unfortunately, that's what he gets anyways. The video cuts to them having finished settling into their hotel room, equipment set up across the room and everything shoved out of the way to give them more space.

Ryan looks younger- better honestly. He used to be quite attractive, didn't he? He wonders what happened. Ray, on the other hand, doesn't look shockingly different. Younger, yes, and softer but not different. Maybe it's just the way he holds himself. After all, this is a Ray that doesn't love him yet; that's never trusted him.

The sound is somewhat muted but still audible in the quiet room.

_"Here,"_ Ryan says and he takes a box out from one of the bags he's brought along. Ray peers at him curiously but not altogether suspiciously. This is also a Ray that doesn't know what Ryan is capable of. _"It's your birthday, right? I got you something."_

Ray stares at him in confusion. At the time, Ryan hadn't exactly spent the time to wonder why, he'd simply assumed Ray hadn't thought he'd care. Ryan hadn't cared, only wanted something.

_"What?"_ Ray questions in amusement. _"What'd you fuck up?"_

_"I didn't 'fuck up' anything,"_ Ryan promises coldly. So coldly, so uninterested and impatient and cold. He'd rather do everything himself until he got himself killed because anyone else would get him killed sooner.

_"Then why're you giving me this?"_ Ray asks dumbly.

_"It's your birthday?"_ Ryan repeats.

_"Is it?"_ Ray murmurs and he has to think about. He shrugs halfly and nods. _"Yeah, I guess it's September already."_

_"You don't know your own birthday,"_ Ryan states blandly. It's not a question but an exasperation. Ray, this small, unsocial, awkward lad that could barely read or write had somehow managed to keep up with him for months. A fluke, he had been sure.

_"No?"_ Ray answers like it's a ridiculous question. _"Do you know yours?"_

_"Yes,"_ Ryan stresses out. _"Did you not celebrate birthdays back home?"_ To this, Ray only shrugs animatedly like he doesn't understand the question. Never had Ryan thought twice about it. Ray had never shown to be religious, certainly never showed to believe in anything beyond himself, but it was unimportant. 'Christian, probably' he said once. 'Had one of those little buff dudes on the wall,' and laughed.

Now, Ryan sees how unusual it is. He supposes some people don't celebrate birthdays, but Ray was a young man from New York with some kind of Christian values. Ryan still doesn't know anything about where Ray came from. He had never spoke of his home or his family aside from off handed comments that offered little information, if any. Maybe he didn't have a family to speak of. Ryan only wishes he knew.

_"Well normal people,"_ Ryan says like he's speaking to a child. _"And whatever kind of people we are, give each other presents on their birthdays."_

_"Uh, why?"_ Ray replies suspiciously. _"I didn't get you a present, man. I don't know these secret rules and shit."_

_"No,"_ Ryan sighs. _"Just take it before I hang myself to get out of this conversation."_ Though reluctant and unsure, Ray takes the box and proceeds to stand awkwardly with it like has no idea what to do now.

_"Are you going to open it sometime today?"_ Ryan asks.

_"Wasn't going to,"_ Ray admits. _"This is fucking weird, man. Just tell me what you did. I ain't mad."_

_"Ray,"_ Ryan grits from his teeth. _"I'm just trying to be nice and make sure you have something to enjoy on your birthday. I know now I shouldn't have bothered."_

_"You really shouldn't've,"_ Ray agrees half under his breathe.

_"Do you ruin everything people try to do for you? Is that why you don't celebrate birthdays?"_ That's something Ryan doesn't remember saying. It's so needlessly cruel but he used to be a not very nice guy. He's not a nice guy now, either, but he's not as bad and he hides it better. Ray's expression flatlines suddenly, becoming unexpressed and emotionless. This was, and likely still is, an emotional self defense mechanism. Then come the jokes.

_"Don't take it personally, I ruin everything,"_ he promises as he looks down at the box in his hands. _"Here's an idea, though, instead of being an asshole all the time what if you were, I don't know,_ not _?"_

_"Open the goddamn box, Ray,"_ Ryan finally commands.

_"Okay, okay, geez. I'll go along with your weird Georgian rituals,"_ Ray answers as a way to placate Ryan's increasing agitation. Ryan likes to think he's a man that wouldn't put hands on someone without a good reason but he knows that's a filthy, filthy lie he tells himself. Ray spins his knife out between his fingers to slice a long cut across the shimmery gold wrapping paper. Once it's off, he pockets his knife again and pulls off the box cover.

Ray laughs, sparing Ryan a look before fishing the gold plated pistol out and tossing the box aside. He looks it over, checking the sight and giving a test pull on the slide to see how it moves. Perhaps Ryan's intentions hadn't been well, on a later date he'd ask Ray to do something not in their job description and Ray would do it to make them even, but Ray liked it.

_"Okay, this is pretty sweet,"_ Ray admits as he handles it some more. _"What do I do with it?"_

_"It's a gun,"_ Ryan answers shortly. _"It is, in fact, functional. You use it, surprise, like a gun."_ Ray gives him a very 'yeah, right' look but he goes back to appreciating the smooth surface of his new toy gladly.

_"Dude, you can see this thing from space,"_ Ray says matter of factly. It is shockingly shiny, yes. The glimmer when he turns it in the sunlight even blinds the camera once or twice. _"Sweet reference, though, fucking nerd. Thanks I guess."_

_”You’ve turned this entire situation into an ordeal,”_ Ryan assures him with very clear annoyance. Ray doesn’t seem to care one way or the other, though, still happily enjoying his present. He’s not sure what ever happened to that gun. Ray never did use it and Ryan doesn’t remember ever seeing it again. Perhaps Ray tossed it after all. _”Are we going to have to have a painful discussion about Christmas, too?”_

_”That’s with the trees and the fat guy that breaks into your house and beats the shit out of you if you’ve been bad, right?”_ Ray replies absently. Another joke, Ryan had thought. He doesn’t know what to think anymore. Geoff laughs from the couch though.

“Man, I know you used to be an asshole but holy shit,” he says. Ryan really doesn’t find it a joking matter. He used to be the worst kind of person, he knows that. He used to be angry and bitter at anyone who crossed his path and never thought past himself because he’d never known anyone well enough to understand that they were people, too. To some extent, this is still true. He can’t remember interacting in a real friendly fashion with anyone he wasn’t already close with in years. Obviously his interactions with Joel aren’t the best example, either.

Ryan thought he had changed, that he isn't this person anymore, but he is. The only difference is he has four people he trusts through some miracle and he doesn't need anyone else. It's exactly like his relationship with Ray only Ryan managed not to fuck this up immediately. He belongs here- of course he belongs here. He isn't sure why he ever thought he didn't.

Maybe that's not a bad thing.

“Yeah, remember when he punched me in the face?” Michael mentions vaguely. “He’s always been an asshole.”

“A,” Ryan replies. “You hit me first. B, you’re all unimaginable assholes, too, so let’s not start pointing fingers here.”

“He has a point,” Jack murmurs and shrugs in mute agreement. The video continues, skipping on to the next sequence of events and skimming over anything that isn’t immediately crucial. A camera catches them walking into a building and another focuses on them from the inside. Ryan only spares the lense a glance in his search for cameras before his attention is on Ray again. In public, they walk side by side comfortably even if they’re not. At this point, they’d prefer to be at least arms length away but that would raise needless suspicion.

_”If I trigger an alarm, a lot of guards are going to be on their way,”_ Ryan explains casually.

_”Maybe don’t trip an alarm?”_ Ray offers.

_”Then I would have brought you along for nothing,”_ Ryan assures. _”Look, can you handle them or not? I’m going to have to trip an alarm just to get around the base communications and open up a frequency to their statcoms.”_

_”I have no idea what you just said, but I can handle the guards,”_ Ray promises. _”I’m gonna need thirty seconds to get to you before you do. Anything less and I can’t promise anything."_

_”Thirty? That’s it? I’m going to be on the twenty second floor,”_ Ryan explains once again. This is information Ray already knows and has disregarded intentionally. _”I don’t need you getting in over your head.”_

_”Thirty seconds,”_ Ray repeats pointedly. _”I’m going to chat up this pretty lady while you’re doing that. So, uh, enjoy your computer whatever shit.”_

_”Ray, if I come out here and find you_ anything _deep in_ anyone _, I’m not going to be happy,”_ Ryan warns.

_”You’re not happy anyways?”_ Ray points out.

_”We’re here to do a job, Narvaez, not to get your dick wet,”_ Ryan assures him irritably.

_”I feel like something happened to you as a child and I’m sorry,”_ Ray says. Always with the jokes. Was it any wonder it had taken Ryan so long to take him seriously? When he walks off, flashing a fake badge at a scanner and entering further into the building, the camera remains on Ray for a moment afterwards. He doesn’t talk to the ‘pretty lady’. He doesn’t do anything. He just stands there. Ryan’s seen him do this before, often in fact; on video and in person.

Without anything in his hands, Ray often simply goes idle. Admittedly, this is fairly normal in people that work for Republica, Ryan’s caught himself doing it more than once, but it always has and will strike him as odd. The camera switches back to Ryan. He isn’t particularly active either and the video skips ahead once again.

There’s no warning before Ray begins to move, reaching into his bag out of the blue and taking out his shotgun. As he starts towards the hall, people begin screaming. Of course, Ray’s beanbag rounds aren’t exactly the most lethal of things but there’s no way for anyone to know that. A mad man with a gun is a lot more concerning to guards than a possibly false trigger in the alarm system upstairs and thus no one bothers Ryan initially. It gives Ray time to head up the stairs on foot, ignoring the elevator altogether in favour of running down the halls with little protection and a gun that doesn’t kill.

The guards aren’t in thick troves, but enough to prompt Ray to take to avoiding them than try to take them on all at once. He lunges off the walls to get around them in groups and simply runs straight through smaller, less dense lines like he knows what he’s doing. They have guns and he isn’t wearing body armor. This makes little difference, though. Few even try to shoot at him at this point and a few well aimed shots at the exposed parts of their armor incapacitates many of them on the way by.

By the time he gets to Ryan’s door, there’s no one in front of him and furthermore, no one with even the slightest interest in whatever Ryan is doing behind closed doors. So he keeps on running. Ray doesn’t make any hesitations about going straight past the room Ryan is held up in and dragging along every guard in the building behind him. It’s a no casualty job, but with them there is always room for error. Ray doesn’t make those errors.

With extreme precision and movement, Ray leads the group of guards on a wild goose chase through the building. He knows which rooms to duck into, where to stop to take a breather, and how to lose a handful of them at a time with sharp turns and unexpected obstacles already set up by the natural flow of the building. The rest he takes out with beanbag rounds and well placed hits of the hand or elbow. Eventually he leads them up to the roof, only about twenty or so of the hundred that had began, where Ray doubles back on himself in a fluid movement and proceeds to close the door behind him. He renders it unable to be opened with a pocket disruptor and brushes himself off easily.

The trouble isn’t exactly gone, but it’s largely dispersed and allows Ray to tread the halls with ease. As he walks, he spins his shotgun around his forearm casually; a game. Always a game. He makes a half hearted jog back down to the floor Ryan is working on and pokes his head in just long enough to assure Ryan that it’s clear. Ray smiles at him in a friendly fashion and once Ryan is sure the area actually is clear and they’re free to go, he returns the gesture.

_”Guess I should give you the benefit of the doubt sometimes,”_ Ryan chuckles.

_”Well, I haven’t given you the benefit of the doubt ever, so let’s call it even,”_ Ray shrugs simply. His distrust is quieter than Ryan’s; gentler. His distrust is silently ignoring a glass he hasn’t had his eyes on all night and checking his back twice because he can’t trust Ryan to check it once. It’s not that this is new information to Ryan, it’s just different in retrospect. Most things are. The video continues without skipping again, assuring that there’s nothing left of interest here but watching Ryan and Ray casually leave the chaos they’ve wrecked. He doesn’t remember what this job had even been about, honestly Ryan can’t say he remembers most of what the jobs he took were about.

What he remembers from his Rooster Teeth days are vague faces and sturdy facts; words and numbers that he has no reason to remember. His training stuck, that is obvious, but it’s mostly muscle memory of training the same routine day after day for years and being able to use those skills even after he had left. Had he moved on to do something more mundane, he likely would have forgotten that, too. Sometimes Ryan wishes he had been able to do something more mundane. He could have went back to installing pools again or perhaps been an IT worker.

Othertimes Ryan wishes Ray had simply offed him when he had the chance.

“Play conduct key Contra RH dash RNJ, please.”

“Sure thing, Ryan!”

\- x -

It's comedic to watch Ryan limp when he walks. Though he assures he's not actually in pain, the small grunts he makes when he bends a way he shouldn't beg to differ. Gavin's certain that in a fair fight, Ryan could give Ray a run for his money but fights are rarely fair and he never should have tried to keep up with Ray on his home ground. In light of this, Rwby changes their training to something less physical. Ryan explained it as a simulation of sorts but Rwby insisted it was more like a very ‘fine tuned’ board game. Either way, Gavin is coming to learn quickly that there aren’t a lot of boring things to do around here and he doubts this is going to be disappointing.

The room they meet up in is rather small but the seamless doors around here make it difficult to tell if that’s all there is too it. Gavin is only glad the door to his room isn’t seamless otherwise he’s not sure he’d ever find it again. Geoff and Michael join them shortly afterward but Rwby still has them wait. It’s not for very long and Gavin doesn’t have the time to wonder about it. Ray joins them last and Rwby assures them they’re ready to proceed now.

Gavin looks at Ryan questioningly and Ryan shrugs without a proper answer. Ray is, technically, part of their group now but it seems odd that he’s participating with them during their training. He clearly doesn’t need it and it’s pretty obvious Ray only intends on sticking around as little as absolutely necessary. It’s unclear whether he’s actually trying to give Ryan a chance or if he’s required to be here. He doesn’t say anything to anyone and no one says anything to him but really, Ray only has a problem with Ryan. Even Michael got a conversation out of him.

Honestly, Gavin is beginning to wondering if this is solely because of Ryan anymore or if it ever was. Ryan royally fucked things up with Ray, Gavin knows that, but they’re even, right? That’s how this is supposed to work? They get back at each other and there are no grudges held. Ray is absolutely holding a grudge. There’s also no way of knowing if Ray had been like this when they met him or if they had been the straw that broke his back but either way Ray being unwell speaks to his sense of- compassion? Which Gavin thinks he has but is no longer sure, actually.

“We will begin when everyone is ready!” Rwby assures. Six doors open up, two on each wall, each with their names posted above them in clear letters. That’s much better. Gavin gladly enters the room labeled for him and the door closes behind him suddenly. He’d be more concerned about this but he isn’t. This room is also very small, just enough room for himself and a cozy looking chair he immediately plants himself in. When he does, several screens come to life before him.

There are three directly in front of the wheelie chair, one right on top of the other, that already displays a bit of information. The top seems to be a map but most of it is faded black making it basically pointless at the moment. The second displays six familiar faces; his own and his crew’s. They all sport eerily neutral expressions and below each profile picture reads ‘N/A’. The last shows a weird 1990’s esq black screen and blinking white cursor. To his left shows a screen simply labeled ‘supplies’ and to the right a seven by seven grid once again featuring their face. It’s sort of weird to see himself with such an expression.

“Would you like to see the tutorial?” Rwby offers. Gavin laughs. He is a _real gamer_ , unlike all those _fake gamers_ , and has never and will never need a tutorial. The lowermost screen suddenly appears with ‘ **Ray Narvaez Jr is ready** ’ and then shortly after ‘ **Ryan Haywood is ready** ’, too. “I’ll that that as a ‘no’. Are you ready to start, then?”

“Ready!” Gavin assures excitedly. Sure enough, ‘ **Gavin Free is ready** ’ pops up as soon as he speaks. It’s an impatient wait for everyone else to ready up as well. ‘ **Michael Jones is ready** ’, ‘ **Geoff Ramsey is ready** ’, and next should come Jack. There is a long pause, however, that makes Gavin audibly groan.

“Is Jack watching the bloody tutorial?” he complains loudly. He’s sure the room is soundproof, but just in case it’s not he wants Jack to know how awful it is that he’s very clearly doing just that.

“Mm hm!” Rwby confirms gladly. “I would suggest you do the same.” He’s not going to do that.

“No way,” Gavin scoffs back halfly. “Let’s just get on with it, then.” Just on time, Jack’s name appears at last; ‘ **Jack Pattillo is ready** ’. Gavin sits up a little more to make sure he can see all the screens easily.

“Beginning the game!” Rwby alerts. “Your goal is to eliminate the other teams and be the last one standing! Watch your backs!” The expressions on his ‘teams’ face suddenly become a lot less neutral in a weird movement that Gavin can’t explain why it’s weird. Perhaps just because it’s artificial and staged. The game starts with more text popping up in its designated spot.

**Team leader assigned; Gavin Free.**

“Ah sweet!” Gavin yelps happily. “Who are we fighting?”

“This is a pvp game, Gavin,” Rwby assures him. “Your teammates are digital copies of your partners that will react much like the originals. This will test your leadership abilities and how well you manage and work with your team. It’s also pretty fun!”

“Oh,” Gavin answers as he processes this information. That’s really cool, actually. It’s also a little nerve wracking all of a sudden, though. He can say right now, he’s at a great disadvantage. Come on, Ray was one of his competitors, they’re all at a great disadvantage. That aside, he’s still excited to see how thing works. It really is just like a boardgame with significantly less board. So just a game, actually. He puts his attention back to the screens.

**MLPMichael is unsure.**   
**JackP is unsure.**   
**BM Vagabond is unsure.**

“Oh what?” Gavin huffs at once. “I haven’t even done anything yet!” Yeah, that’s a pretty accurate response to him being in charge of any situation ever. He’s honestly not that bad. As his fake crew’s mood change, so does the ‘N/A’ tag under their images. Geoff and Ray’s simply read ‘neutral’ while Gavin’s image has been removed altogether from the screen. Well obviously that’s because he’s here and real.

“Let’s uh, hmm,” he ponders to himself. Without any equipment, they’re not going to get very far. Much like a game, Gavin assumes it’s hidden around the map of which is still completely useless. He can’t see anything else because no one on his team has been out yet, right? “Alright! Michael have a look around, would ya boi?”

**MLPMichael is reluctant.**   
**JackP is unsure.**

“Okay, uh, Ray can go with him in case you guys run into anyone else, right?” Gavin insists. He doesn’t know how big the map is nor where any of the others are stationed but he can’t imagine they’d be close by. Unless it’s a super small map, they shouldn’t immediately run into anyone.

**BM Vagabond doesn’t like this idea.**   
**MLPMichael and Brownman have left.**

“Let’s fortify our base while they’re gone. I bloody know Ray’s gonna try to sneak in here,” Gavin instructs swiftly. There’s a significant difference between having a basic control scheme and being given complete freedom of actions. With really no limit of what he could do, this is a very dangerous game.

**DGgeoff says; “fortify with what, asshole?”**  Fortunately, their voices make no sound. That would have been kind of weird and unsettling, Gavin supposes. There are other sounds though that hang in the room like ambiance. It's likely important to the gameplay as well but currently, it doesn't offer any actual help.

“Are you saying we’re in an empty room?” Gavin scoffs. His visuals are limited and that's probably part of the game. It makes him have to rely on his teammates to know anything about his surroundings.

**BM Vagabond says; “yes.”**

“Oh, okay, great,” Gavin replies sarcastically. The map lights up gradually around their base as it’s explored by someone not him. The several dots that move across the map are probably his team and their positions which is immensely helpful. It’s incredible the amount of effort and detail that’s gone into this. Ray’s dot stops every so often like he’s looking around while Michael’s barges forward only to stop when Ray isn’t keeping up with him. The map appears to be a maze of halls and rooms, simple in design but giving a decent amount of places to hide and sneak around in.

**Brownman has found something.**

“Sweet!” Gavin compliments. That’s a step in the right direction. “What’d’ya find, Ray?”

**Small amount of pistol ammunition. Six grenades. Two health kits.**

**DGgeoff says; “oh good. Now we can each have a grenade to blows ourselves up with. Or Gavin can blow himself up six times.”**

“Geoff has a very mean point, let’s give them to Ray and Ryan,” Gavin instructs. “Jack, you handle the first aid kits.” If they’re modeled after the crew and react like their real life counterparts, they should have the same skills, too. Even the small, completely unnecessary ones. This thought stirs an idea at the back of Gavin’s brain.

"Ray, use your sweet legs to distract the other Ryans," he commands wisely.

**Brownman refuses.**

Yeah, definitely Ray. It was worth a shot. Still, Gavin has great plans in the making. There's a lot of stuff he can use to his advantage by simply knowing his boyfriends and knowing how a complex but still just a program would interrupt them. For starters, if they can get close to any of the other teams without being seen, three of six of them would easily be capable of pulling off a successful ambush. With grenades, even better.

**Jack Pattillo’s MLPMichael has been killed by Geoff Ramsey's Brownman.**

Whoa. Gavin is caught a little off guard by the text that suddenly pops up different from everything else, a little skull preceding it ominously. It's still so early in the game! They're way closer together than Gavin assumed they were, then. That's not comforting at all. An x appears on the grid with their faces on it and Gavin realises it's to keep track of who's still alive.

**MLPMichael is extremely concerned.**

"What?" Gavin questions into the open. Can his artificial teammates see game mechanics?

**JackP is distressed.**   
**BM Vagabond is distressed.**   
**DGgeoff is distressed.**

Oh yeah they can. Gavin has no idea what to do about this. In fact, he's not even sure he's completely comprehended the effects of the other teams being exactly the same as his team until right now. While it's just a game to him, his fake crew will treat it like it's actually happening- like a copy of Michael just died. Not to mention now they'll have to face themselves and Gavin knows for a fact not all of them will be able to face an exact replica of themselves easily.

The very thought makes Gavin a little uneasy, honestly. He'd never be able to kill an exact copy of himself and he's glad he'd never have to. This puts a whole new spin on the game; a darker, intense spin.

Quickly, he tries to defuse the stress in his own team.

"Calm down, our Michael is fine," Gavin assures at once. "Hurry up, boies. Ray's a sneaky bastard." This is enough to settle everyone but Michael's mood out of distress. The two wandering dots move quicker now and reveal more of the map around where they're stationed. It doesn't look like their back is against a wall which is either really good or really bad.

**MLPMichael and Brownman have returned.**

"Geoff, watch the front door. Ryan, you watch the back," Gavin instructs and both dots move into position without question. They still don't have any supplies, though, and have no idea where any of the other teams are. He really doesn't want another Michael dead, either, it'll only worry his own team more.

"Alright, Ray, have a look around quiet like, then, you sneaky bastard," he insists. That's how Geoff had found some of Jack's team most likely. While the rest of them probably wouldn't notice Ray, other Rays will. Gavin has no idea if Ray would try to fight another Ray without intent. If they just bypass each other, that should be okay.

**Brownman has left.**

Or wait, maybe Ray would be hostile to other Rays? This is a problem Gavin never thought he'd have to consider. He really doesn't know enough about Ray to accurately judge anything he'd do.

**Michael Jones' GavinoFree has been killed by Ryan Haywood's DGgeoff.**

That's not comforting. Gavin is largely removed from the situation, it's just a game to him, but his team is not. Immediately, they all become incredibly worried though whether it's for him or about their situation is unclear.

**Jack Pattillo's BM Vagabond has died.**   
**Brownman has been spotted.**

Gavin looks to the map hurriedly, two enemy dots suddenly appearing on screen; Geoff's Ray and Ryan. His Ray takes off instantly, bolting down the hall without hesitation. That's a fight he wouldn't win and he knows it. The map becomes more open rapidly as Ray tries to make an escape from his two pursuers, one of who runs exactly as fast as he does.

"Let's go," Gavin says suddenly. "North- no I mean south! Whatever door Ryan's at!" The opposite direction of Geoff and hopefully Jack. They move in a group automatically, their formation not shockingly different from reality. The map this way is still mostly dark and Gavin only hopes Ray and Ryan aren't this way. He hurriedly leads them through several winding halls to a room that looks a lot easier to defend.

**MLPMichael has found something. Weapon crate found.**   
**Brownman has lost communications.**

Good news comes with bad. Ray's dot and the two following him disappear off the map but they have guns now. Without being able to contact Ray, no more of the map is revealed. Now that they have something to work with, they can aggress. If they hurry, they can surprise Geoff while his best fighters are chasing Ray. Well, he'd be outnumbered at least is the idea.

"Suit up, we can hit Geoff while he's distracted," Gavin explains.

**JackP doesn't like this idea.**

"Who asked you, Jack?" he huffs back.

**JackP is annoyed.**   
**Ryan Haywood has been killed by Ryan Haywood's Brownman.**

Gavin has to read the line twice over to make sure he read it right. He can't say he's surprised exactly. Does that mean Ryan's out?

**BM Vagabond is extremely concerned about Brownman.**   
**JackP is extremely concerned about Brownman.**   
**MLPMichael is extremely concerned about Brownman.**   
**DGgeoff is extremely concerned about Brownman.**

Everyone is suddenly extremely distressed. It’s understandable, Gavin supposes, but he’s also fairly certain that his Ray isn’t going to attack his Ryan for no reason. Ryan had to have done or said something really stupid and it was probably intentional. Now he knows one more thing _not_ to say to the real Ray. The real Ryan’s spot on the board gets checked off but the rest of his team is still noted to be alive. They must be leading themselves now?

**Jack Pattillo has been killed by Michael Jones’ BM Vagabond.**

All Gavin can say is he’s not the first one out. That makes two team leaders down and he still has a full team. This is actually looking not too bad for him right now.

“Change of plans, bois. Let’s hit Michael while he’s down!”

**DGgeoff has an idea.**

“Oh what? My idea wasn’t good enough? Fine, let’s hear yours,” Gavin scoffs. He thought he was the team leader here.

**DGgeoff would like to recruit Jack Pattillo’s team.**

“Alright, that’s not a bad idea actually,” he admits as he ponders it a bit more. If they’re still active, it would give them an advantage.

**BM Vagabond has an idea.**

“Yeah, alright let’s hear yours, too,” Gavin murmurs. Right now he’s not sure if he’d prefer to take Geoff or Ryan’s advice.

**BM Vagabond would like to recruit Ryan Haywood’s team.**   
**DGgeoff does not like this idea.**   
**JackP does not like this idea.**   
**MLPMichael does not like this idea.**

“He has a point, though,” Gavin insists. Ryan’s team is still mostly whole while Jack’s team is probably incredibly unstable in face of their substantial lost. How much of a problem would Ryan’s Ray be, really?

**Brownman has lost pursuers.**   
**Brownman’s communications are back online.**

A section of the map suddenly lights up where Ray is and it becomes clear that the map is fairly large. He’s a ways away. They’d need to find Ryan’s team, and only Ryan’s team, before they can even try to do anything productive. This poses a problem with his ‘ambush the other team’ idea as well.

“What did you find out there, Ray?” Gavin inquires hopefully. “Besides Geoff’s team, obviously.”

**Brownman says, “thanks. You know. For the help.”**

“You had it under control, I believe in you Ray.”

**Brownman is unamused.**

"So you didn't find anything?" Gavin asks again. He had been running for his life but surely he could have spotted something or someone on the way.

**Brownman has nothing to report.**

"Alright," Gavin sighs. "Come on back. If you run into anyone on their own, take them out- unless it's Ryan's team. We want to regroup with them." Again, the rest of his team assures him they don't like this idea. Ray is indifferent, like he has been the entire time. His mood hasn't changed from neutral yet and he either trusts Gavin's choices or seriously doesn't care. Honestly, Gavin wouldn't be surprised if it turns out Ray is actually leading everything secretly. That would surely defeat the purpose of the game, though.

"When he gets back, he and Ryan will go look for Ryan's team," Gavin instructs. No one likes this idea, either. He lets out an exasperated groan. "Look, Ryan's team is probably shaken up about losing Ryan so seeing _our_ Ryan will help them out, right? And they're gonna be super pissed at their Ray and their Ray may be upset at our Ryan, anyways, so our Ray will be there to keep their Ray under control. I- wait what? No, yeah. That was right." There are a lot of Ryan and Rays on the board okay?

They all, if not somewhat reluctantly, accept his reasoning. He knows what he's doing most the time! Still, explaining himself seems to make his team more at ease. Again, pretty accurate to his actual boyfriends. Ray’s dot moves around a bit quicker now and slightly more unpredictably as he pokes his head into every room and down every hall in search for anything but also trying to avoid everything.

“Everyone else keep a watch out, Ray’s being way too quiet so far,” Gavin assures. If anyone’s going to sneak up on them, it’s going to be Ray. Geoff might try to but he rarely succeeds in doing that especially as a group. Before Ray makes it back, he runs into another group of dots. For a moment, none of them move. The dots give no suggestion as to which way any of them are pointing but Gavin’s going to go ahead and assume they’re all focused on Ray.

**Brownman has found something.**

Yeah, Gavin can see that.

“What’d you find there, Ray?” he asks curiously.

**Brownman has located Ryan Haywood’s team.**

“Oh sweet! Protect them until Ryan can get there!” Gavin tells him.

**Brownman is unsure.**

At least he probably won’t die? Ryan makes a quick leave, hurrying across the map with some degree of caution. There’s the slightest glance of another dot down a hallway he turns down but it’s gone immediately as Ryan avoids any and all confliction like the plague. Wisely, he doesn’t want to deal with anything he doesn’t have to just yet.

**Browman has recruited Ryan Haywood’s team.**

Ryan hasn’t even gotten there yet. There’s a certain vagueness to this game that both keeps Gavin removed from what’s happening and leave enough up to the imagination that he could completely see it happening. Ray somehow convinced four extraordinarily stressed out FAKE members to join up with them through mysterious means while they’re all probably furious at him and the other Ray alike? Yeah, Gavin can see that happening. An extra five faces appear on his team’s screen now including his own. Still weird but less weird than the neutral face he’d sported before.

Along with the new members also show new sections of the map and an increase in their supplies. Sure enough, Ryan’s team is already extremely distressed. In a surprising turn of events, Ryan’s Ray is catatonic and unresponsive. That explains why Ray had such an easy time convincing them. When Ryan arrives, he goes about handling the situation immediately without needing to be prompted as shown by the change in mood of the new team members.

“Ryan, see if you can calm Ray down would you?” Gavin instructs. Two Rays would give them an edge but only if they were both capable of actually doing something. What the hell had Ryan said, anyways?

**DGgeoff would like to execute Ryan Haywood’s Brownman.**

“Whoa! _No_!” Gavin replies without even considering it. Where did that come from? “Calm down.”

**JackP is upset with DGgeoff.**   
**RH Brownman has injured BM Vagabond.**   
**Brownman has injured RH Brownman.**

“Whoa, hold on,” Gavin tries urgently before things get anymore out of hand.

**MLPMichael agrees with DGgeoff.**   
**RH GavinoFree hears something.**   
**JackP is upset with MLPMichael.**   
**Michael Jones’ DGgeoff has been killed by Geoff Ramsey’s GavinoFree.**   
**MLPMichael is upset with JackP.**   
**BM Vagabond is in critical condition.**   
**RH JackP is unstable.**

“Okay wait-” This is very rapidly spiraling out of control. Gavin can’t keep up with the text that climbs his screen in quick succession. Now with duplicates on his team, it’s even more difficult to make sense of what’s happening where. “Someone help Ryan! Who has a first aid kit?”

**MLPMichael is angry.**   
**RH MLPMicheal is angry.**   
**Brownman hears something.**   
**RH Brownman is in critical condition.**   
**RH DGgeoff has executed RH Brownman.**   
**BM Vagabond is furious.**   
**JackP is furious.**   
**RH JackP is furious.**   
**Brownman is unstable.**   
**RH GavinoFree is unstable.**   
**DGgeoff is annoyed.**

“Who’s helping Ryan?” Gavin squaks loudly, having largely taken to ignoring everything else at the moment. “Bloody hell, what the fuck Geoff! Someone do something about the other Geoff! Someone help Ryan so he can help Ray! Michael, help Ryan! Or Ray! Either is fine!”

**Browman has killed RH DGgeoff.**  Problem solved?

“Not what I meant!” he assures immediately. “Ray, you need to calm down! Everyone needs to calm down!”

**BM Vagabond has died.**   
**Browman is in critical condition.**   
**RH JackP is unresponsive.**   
**RH MLP Michael hears something.**   
**Gavin Free has been killed by Michael Jones’ BM Vagabond.**

What? Where did that even come from? Even as Gavin examines the map, he has no idea where Michael’s Ryan could have possibly been. They’re in a room with only one way in and one way out! There aren’t any other dots in the room, either.

“Oh, bloody hell, the fucking door was open, wasn’t it? Ryan bloody sniped me from down the hall, are you serious‽ None of you could close the door!” Gavin yelps. Of course, since he’s dead now, no one replies to his probably rhetorical question. This had been fun up until those last few minutes. Though his screens dim to assure he doesn’t have any effect on them anymore, he can still watch everything happen.

“What did you do, Gavin?” Jack questions and his voice startles Gavin a bit. Since he’s out, his communications with the other losers have been brought back up obviously. A warning would have been nice.

“Me?” Gavin huffs slightly. “What the hell did you do, Ryan?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Ryan murmurs in clear annoyance.

**RH JackP hears something.**   
**GF Brownman hears something.**   
**RH GavinoFree hears something.**   
**RH MLPMichael hears something.**

They all appear on the screen in quick succession and then all at once, a serious of death messages show up.

**Ryan Haywood’s team has been eliminated by Geoff Ramsey’s BM Vagabond and MLPMichael.**   
**Gavin Free’s Brownman has been killed by Geoff Ramsey’s BM Vagabond.**

“Well, that didn’t last long,” Jack says. Gavin hadn’t even had the time to consider that his team had been hearing movement for quite some time. Considering they had already been killing their own teammates, he doubts it would have made much of a difference.

**GF DGgeoff is unstable.**   
**GF JackP is unstable.**   
**GF MLPMichael is unstable.**

“So wait, can our teams win without us?” Gavin asks though it’s not directed at anyone specifically.

“A team can still win without a team leader,” Ryan agrees. “None of ours _will_ , but it is possible.” That’s already painfully clear. Though Gavin would like to think their team would still be functional if one of them died, it’s the circumstances that matter. These circumstances would never apply to the real world, but it does mean that it would be impossible for any of their teams to win without a team leader except /maybe Ray’s.

“At least I wasn’t out first,” Gavin says, rather proud of himself.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Ryan repeats sourly.

“You actually did pretty well there for a while,” Jack compliments. “Until you took Ryan’s dumb advice to join up with Ryan’s dumb team.”

“I’d say it was going well until he sent Ray and a nervous version of myself to recruit them,” Ryan points out.

“Yeah, you were doing well until Ray offed you,” Gavin answers smugly. Ryan sighs loudly. “I want to see how Michael’s doing, how do I do that?” Of course, all he needs to do is ask and suddenly, his screen change in order to be replaced with Michael’s info. He can see all the map now, it is rather big, and more importantly, where all the dots are. The remaining members of Jack’s team still linger in a room on their own while Michael’s team is spread across the map to some extend. Weirdly enough, Ray’s team doesn’t look like it’s moved much from their starting position. He’s likely waiting for them to wipe themselves out first.

“Oh shit oh shit oh fuck, Ryan fucking run. Where the fuck is Geoff?” Michael’s team isn’t doing much better than Gavin’s had been, all of them in various states of discontent and panic. They bicker among each other angrily and his Ryan is in extreme duress.

**JackP is unresponsive.**

“That’s fine. You’re useless anyways, Jack. Just sit in the fucking corner or something,” Michael snaps.

**JackP is annoyed.**   
**BM Vagabond is unresponsive.**

“Oh fuck. No no no. You need to chill out, Ryan, it’s okay. It’s just a game, man, Gavin’s dumbass isn’t actually dead. Just get back here!” Michael commands. “Geoff- fuck- Ray- whoever, I don’t care- fucking-” he sighs irritably as he tries to gather his thoughts amongst all the havoc. “Fucking do something about Jack, please.”

**Brownman has calmed JackP down.**   
**JackP is unstable.**

“ _Holy shit_ , someone on this team is useful for something,” Michael shouts sarcastically. “Talk some sense into Ryan, Jack.”

**JackP is unresponsive.**

“Are you fucking serious‽” Michael lets out a frustrated roar of a noise and a thump follows that is very likely him smacking his face against one of the screens. “Whoa Ryan! Don’t just stop! Get out the fucking hallway! Are you fucking catatonic‽ Get out the fucking hallway, dipshit!”

“Michael could be doing better,” Jack murmurs. It’s less of a jab at Michael’s leadership and more of a general statement that this was actually ridiculously hard. Gavin thinks he’ll make an effort to pay more attention to his datemates in the future.

“What about Geoff?” Gavin inquires and he’s given Geoff’s view without question. His team is only slightly more eased than Michael’s, still distressed but responsive and nervous. Obviously he’d be the best at this considering he is actually their ‘team leader’. Boss is more accurate, actually, but considering their relationship it never really feels like that except when Geoff tries overly hard to put the boss face on. It’s more hilarious than anything else, though. That aside, he is, in fact, very good at leading them. Usually.

“Huh, okay. Michael, try to chill Ray out. Jack, you talk to Michael. Gavin, make sure Ryan’s alright,” Geoff instructs easily. He’s managed to gather up quite a few supplies so far, mostly gathered from the other teams, but supplies turned out to be the least of their concerns. Ray’s team remains unmoved on the map. If he was waiting for a time to strike, it would be now. Actually, it would have been for quite a while.

**Jack Pattillo’s Brownman has forfeited for Jack Pattillo’s team.**   
**Brownman is unstable.**   
**BM Vagabond is nervous about Browman.**   
**MLPMichael is nervous about Brownman.**   
**JackP is nervous about Brownman.**   
**GavinoFree is nervous.**

“Just in general or?” Geoff prompts.

**GavinoFree is nervous just in general.**

“Look, we’re almost done. We just have to wipe out the rest of Michael’s team and then find where Ray is hiding,” Geoff assures. “Then it’s over. I kept you all safe this long, you’ll be fine. Besides, you’re getting worked up over nothing. The other yous are trying to _kill_ you. They’re like evil versions of you. Like even bigger assholes, can you imagine?”

**GavinoFree has an idea.**

“I’m terrified to ask,” Geoff says with a sigh. “Go ahead.”

**GavinoFree would like to recruit Gavin Free’s team.**

“Why would I want to deal with more assholes?” Geoff inquires pointedly. That had been the mistake Gavin made. He thought it would give him an edge, but there just ended up being too many people to manage.

**GavinoFree would like to use Gavin Free’s team as bait.**

Geoff takes a moment to think about it if his silence is anything to go by. As good of an idea as that is, surely it won’t do his team’s morale any favours.

“Okay,” he finally says slowly. “I'm listening.”

“Jesus Christ,” Jack sighs. What few dots Michael has left are starting across the map but they don’t seem to know where they’re going and after a few moments, they end up darting off in different directions.

“Let’s check on Ray, then,” Gavin insists. Immediately his screen is filled with a series of messages. They keep popping up and pushing more away before Gavin can even read all of them. Ray’s entire team seem to be rapidly switching from unresponsive to unstable to just plain catatonic. What even happened here? It’s clear right off the bat that Ray’s team, in fact, really hasn’t moved from their starting position at all.

“God,” Ray groans tiredly. “Will you all please just shut up already? I fucking get it, okay? Just shut up.” This does absolutely nothing to stop his team from flipping through emotions and various feelings rapidly towards both each other and their situation. A single line keeps repeating over and over again, Gavin can see.

**Extremely concerned about Ray Narvaez Jr.**

“Ryan, please do something about your team,” Ray tries.

**BM Vagabond is unsure.**

“Really?” he replies with exhaustion. “God, you can’t do anything for me, can you? Not that, that’s new. Look, for the last time, I’m not going to hurt any of you. Jesus christ, all I want is for you all to shut the hell up. I fucking _know_ you don’t fucking trust me, okay. You can fucking stop literally at any time. Literally. Now would be nice.”

None of this persuades the messages to stop from lining up in quick succession. Between some of the lines, Gavin catches a glimpse of ‘Michael Jones’ BM Vagabond has been killed by Geoff Ramsey’s BM Vagabond.’

“We’re not- We’re not like that, are we?” Gavin asks aimlessly. He doesn’t get a reply.

“Ryan! Fucking do something about your fucking boyfriends!” Ray shouts, suddenly angry and aggressive. This only manages to make his teammates more unsure of him, several messages popping up one right after the other of ‘would like to promote DGgeoff to team leader.’

**BM Vagabond is unsure.**

“Don’t give me that!” Ray snaps. “You’re sure about everything else, aren’t you? I’m not fucking asking you to slaughter them, god damn! Just shut them up! You can’t even fucking do that‽ What even is your fucking problem, I fucking swear!” Messages just continue to swarm the screen with no suggestion that they’re going to stop any time soon. Ray even sounds like he’s struggling to keep it together. Just a game, Gavin thinks again. It’s just a game.

**Michael Jones’ team has been executed by Geoff Ramsey’s Brownman.**

“Fuck! Shit! What the fuck was that‽ Fuckin!” Michael shouts irritably. He’s too busy trying to calm himself down to immediately care about the rest of the game.

“Stop. Just stop,” Ray finally says. Whether he’s even aware of what’s happening with the other teams is unclear. It’s hard to keep up with the messages and though he’s trying his best to keep his team calm, it’s doing nothing. Honestly, Ray probably never cared that much about the game in the first place.

**BM Vagabond doesn’t understand.**   
**JackP doesn’t understand.**   
**DGgeoff is unresponsive.**

“No!” Ray shouts. “No, Rwby, stop! Stop the game! I forfeit! Just stop! Let me out!”

**Ray Narvaez Jr has forfeited.**   
**Geoff Ramsey is the winner! Perfect score!**

Gavin doesn’t hesitate to get out of his chair and rush for the doorway. The door opens far too slow and he wedges himself out through the crack before it even has time to. Ray is already in the small lobby, leaning against one wall as if to support himself. Jack and Ryan join him soon after though once there, it’s clear none of them actually know what to do. They don’t want to touch him, he obviously won’t appreciate that, but they don’t want to do nothing, either.

“Ray, are you alright?” Ryan tries tentatively. Ray nods hard but it hardly seems honest. “Are you having another attack?”

“No,” Ray rasps out even as he has to sit himself on the floor just to keep himself from falling over.

“Do you want help?” Jack offers calmly.

“I’m not having a panic attack,” Ray snaps sourly. “Not like one I’ve had before at least,” is the softer mumble. He presses his head against the wall in order to press on his chest with both hands.

“Are you having a fucking stroke, what’s going on?” Ryan asks a little more urgently.

“Ray is not having a stroke,” Rwby promises. “Please head to the medical wing immediately, Ray.”

“I’m fine,” Ray grits out. He stands suddenly, rolling his shoulders as if it’ll make a difference in his condition before turning away from the wall. “I’m fine,” he repeats in an easier tone like he really is fine.

“Please escort Ray to the medical wing immediately,” Rwby repeats, this time directing it at anyone else.

“I’m fine,” Ray snaps again. “I’m over it.”

“Ray is suffering from severe cardiac arrest,” Rwby informs. “Ray needs to be escorted to the medical wing immediately.” For a moment, Ray doesn’t say anything. That sounds like it’s probably not good. Ray’s lack of response causes them not to know what to do either, everyone watching him like he's going to suddenly fall over dead. Michael wanders out from his room quietly, having calmed himself down for the most part by now, and looks them over curiously.

“What’s going on?” he asks steadily. It’s clear something’s wrong and it doesn’t take a genius to figure it out. Geoff sports a similar look of confusion when he emerges from his own room.

“I have to go,” Ray says simply and then he’s quickly exiting the room. Gavin looks at Ryan immediately, unsure of whether one of them should go with him to help or leave him be. He certainly hadn’t looked like he was having a heart attack. What if he doesn’t make it to the medical wing? Ryan only looks at him back with the same question. Why is he asking Gavin?

“Well that was fun,” Geoff compliments with all seriousness. It would have been more fun if they weren’t facing each other and while it’d been exciting, Gavin isn’t sure that’s a good thing. “Competition was a little limp wristed,” he jokes with a chuckle.

“Fuck you, Geoff!” Michael snaps. “That was a fucking dick move and you know it!”

“Dick move my ass,” Geoff answers shortly. “There weren’t any rules.”

“I’ll dick move your ass alright,” Michael scoffs but it’s to some degree, amused.

“Ray just had a heart attack,” Jack informs suddenly as they are blissfully unaware.

“Oh what, really?” Michael replies.

“Is that why he forfeited?” Geoff inquires.

“No,” Ryan answers shortly. There’s not a significant reason to explain any further and he doesn’t.

“Wow, I feel kind of bad,” Michael admits. “He gonna be okay?” Like all the other times Ray has been in severe condition, he’ll probably be alright. He’s always alright but knowing that only makes it seem like one day he really isn’t going to be and today might be that day. Gavin wants to follow after him just to assure he gets to the medical wing alright but he remains where he is if not only for the fact that Ray has a tendency to lash out when people try to help him.

“So uh,” Michael goes on. “Speaking of Ray and everything. Has he been reverse pickpocketing any of you?” Reverse-?

“Like, sticking stuff _in_ our pockets?” Gavin asks.

“Yeah,” Michael agrees slowly. “I didn’t say anything because I thought I was losing my god damn mind but this,” he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a very fancy butterfly knife that he spins around his fingers. “Sure as hell isn’t mine.” He turns the blade out to point it vaguely at Ryan before spinning the blade back into its handle.

“Now that you mention it, I have found some stuff in my pockets that hasn’t belonged to me,” Jack admits. “I just thought one of you were wearing my pants again.”

“Jack, none of us fit in your pants,” Geoff points out.

“None of us fit in your ass either, but we make it work,” Jack mumble under his breathe. Michael has to stop what he’s going long enough to give him a fist bump.

“Maybe he wanted you to have it?” Ryan suggests, bringing the conversation back on track. He doesn’t make an effort to take the balisong from Michael but turns it in his hand a little to assure that it is actually Ray’s.

“Did he also want me to have a half eaten ham sandwich and a handful of paper clips?” Michael asks.

“Probably not,” Ryan admits faintly. “You should give it back to him when you have the chance. He probably doesn’t realise he’s doing it.”

“He’s reverse pickpocketing on accident?” Geoff asks without the slightest hint of belief. Ryan shrugs.

“Is it really the weirdest thing he’s done so far?” he points out to which Geoff has to agree megarly. Gavin plans on coming back to see what else this ‘game’ has to offer but for now, his concerns are elsewhere. Surely they’re not really like that; wouldn’t react to Ray like that. It’s just a program that couldn’t have possibly captured them exactly right. Ray should understand that.

“I’m going to go make sure he gets to the medical wing alright,” Jack says with a punctual sigh. This exercise could have gone better. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do you like music? of course you do, what an inane question literally everyone likes music. literally everyone. be sure to check out [Seven Nationed Army by naervaez](http://8tracks.com/naervaez/seven-nationed-army) and [let's be clear, I trust no one by FlossieF.](http://8tracks.com/flossief/let-s-be-clear-i-trust-no-one) if you've made something for 7na or wbr, let me know immediately so i may gush over it with extreme fondness!


	8. I'm Seriously Worried

Ryan can't say his appetite is particularly strong right now. That being said, he still picks through his meal absently to find the bits he likes which isn't much. The stunning display Ray had put on earlier still lingers quietly in the back of his mind, making it difficult for him to do much of anything. He's aware of the hand he's played in this, not a single action to a chain of events, but a constant presence to a downward spiral. All he can think is Ray was so young, of course Ryan fucked him up.

Even so, he legitimately doesn't know how to fix anything about this situation. He isn't even sure if he _can_. Ray fighting him with tooth and claw every step of the way doesn't help, either. Ryan dejectedly considers that there's just no place for him in Ray's life anymore and that he's trying to fix something he has no business fixing. He figures it's sort of inane for him to think he has the proper knowledge to fix something just because he was the one that broke it.

When Jack finally joins them, Ryan pushes his food away. Despite wanting to go check on Ray, Jack had assured them to stay their distance if there were any parts they wanted to keep. As concerned as this made Ryan about Jack, it only made him twice as so for Ray.

"How's Ray doing, then?" Gavin asks before Jack can even have a seat at the little table they occupy. Geoff pushes him a plate of food that Jack accepts with a faint sigh.

"Not great," Jack murmurs. "They already had him strapped to a bed when I got there, loudly refusing treatment. Which, I guess, isn't a thing you can do here when having a heart attack."

"But he went to the medical bay on his own, right?" Gavin points out.

"Yeah, well, apparently he had changed his mind by the time he got there," Jack answers with a shrug like he doesn't know what to tell them. "His medical information is private but Blaine said he'd be alright. 'He's just going through a hard time right now.' Huge fucking understatement there."

"You didn't find out what caused it?" Ryan inquires. Jack shakes his head.

"If I had to guess, just plain old stress," he says heavily. "Ray's always had subtle vitals, right? I doubt it'd take much to set something like this off." None of this is what Ryan wants to hear. He's past the point of expecting anything good and now only hopes to hear problems he can help solve. He can't do anything about this.

"He'll be out this afternoon," Jack goes on. "They're not putting him back on red restriction but Blaine wants us to watch him closer from now on."

"Us?" Geoff repeats with a snort. "Ray doesn't even like us. What are we supposed to do?"

"Well we're partners whether you fucking like it or not Geoff and if he needs our help, then we'll help him," Jack promises irritably. "We owe him, anyways." Ryan can't even find it in himself to be upset about this quick slope into 'always be even' territory. He leans his elbows on the table and rubs his face in his hands tiredly. Perhaps he'd be more equipped to deal with this if he was sleeping better but it's unlikely.

"For starters," Jack murmurs softly. "I think we need to keep Ryan and Ray far apart. I know you want to fix things but all you're doing is making it worse."

"I know," Ryan groans into his hands. "I know." He can't even think of anything he's done recently to make things worse. It seems like anything he does at all just pisses Ray off more and more.

"Secondly, I think Ray might be disassociating," Jack says. Ryan lifts his head up enough to look at him shortly. That's not- surely Ray had already been. He certainly wouldn't be working here this long if he wasn't.

"Isn't Ray already disassociated?" Gavin questions curiously.

"Not exactly," Jack replies with another sigh. "Rwby explained affliction and solutions to you guys, right?"

"Yeah," Michael snorts. "It's fucking dumb."

"You can say that again," Geoff scoffs in agreement.

"No?" Gavin replies bemusedly.

"Gavin, you didn't ask why Republica wanted you here?" Jack asks mildly. "Or had any interest in what was different about you? Or literally listened to anything Rwby said?"

"No?" Gavin answers with even more confusion. "No one bloody told me that was something I should have done."

"You're telling me you didn't care why you're here at all, Gavin?" Ryan asks curiously. It seems like Gavin should have been the first to ask questions like that but he just looks on curiously.

"Affliction and solution are the two stages of disassociation," Geoff explains just to get it out of the way already. "An affliction is, like, what makes you a special fucking snowflake-"

"An affliction," Ryan corrects before Geoff goes any further in the wrong direction. "Is what makes you feel like you're different from everyone around you. Mine is illness. My insomnia made me see other people differently and I realised I wasn't 'normal' or, uh, 'average' I should say."

"Mine's friendliness," Jack explains. "I always thought I had to be nice to everyone I met but other people weren't always nice to me so I thought something was wrong with me. I figured I was somehow different."

"A solution is what reacted with the affliction to actually cause a person to disassociate," Ryan continues.

"Mine was fear," Michael grumbles unhappily. "I guess I was so afraid what would happen if someone found out I was a monster that I decided I didn't even want to be like them. They fucking suck."

"Violence," Geoff says and shrugs. "Wanted attention, fucked shit up, got attention."

"Ray's affliction is apathy," Jack explains. "But he doesn't have a solution."

"Yeah," Ryan responds slowly. This is where they disagree. "That's because his affliction is apathy. He doesn't need a solution to disassociate."

"Unless you fucked him up so bad you made him, you know, actually feel something," Jack answers with a sour frown. "People who disassociate don't always connect with other people like them."

"Sure, yeah, but it doesn't work like that," Ryan argues. "He was already disassociated. He can't disassociate again. I'm not even sure he can change, honestly. I mean, apathy is treated like a special class from other afflictions."

"So are you," Jack promises. Ryan has to rework what Jack's hinting at several times over in his head simply due to how absurd it is.

"You think I'm Ray's solution?" Ryan barks with a laugh. "That's ridiculous."

"I think at one point, Ray started to get the idea that there was someone like him and you proved him very, very wrong. I think you made him believe you were capable of something you weren't, inadvertently or not, and when he opened up, you yanked away so fast he snapped shut and you got caught up. Now you're both suffering for it," Jack says coldly.

"That sounds super gay," Michael murmurs.

"I don't-" Jack sighs, nudging some food around on his plate before pushing it away. Ryan wisely decides to keep his mouth shut. He'll just say the wrong thing, anyways. Jack's right, after all. "I'm not saying it was your fault, Ryan, I know you were at a weird place but- you moved on. If Ray hadn't shown up, I doubt you would have ever thought twice about it. Ray didn't. The truth is, whether you meant it or not, Ray was severely affected by what you did."

"He's right," Geoff agrees. Ryan knows he's right. He doesn't need to be told this. He ruined Ray, he gets it, but to cause him to disassociate? Ryan doesn't believe that. "Ray was just a kid, dude. He still is."

"But," Jack says. "I don't think this is bad for him. Just like it wasn't bad for you and isn't bad for Geoff." Whatever way he twists it, if he's right and Ryan is Ray's solution, it's worse than bad; it's awful. Ryan will never forgive himself and neither will Ray.

"I would think it would be a good thing even?" Michael admits. "Aren't agents really unstable without a solution?"

"That depends," Jack assures. "But the important part is, if Ray really is disassociating, he's going to be raw and, well, impressionable. You can still fix this, Ryan."

"Explain to me exactly how that helps me at all," Ryan answers in exasperation. "Last time I checked, it's generally not a great step forward to take advantage of a person's fragile mental state."

"Christ, no," Jack huffs sharply. "Jesus, Ryan."

"What? That was the assumption you lead me to!" Ryan snaps back.

"No," Jack repeats passively. "Ray needs some space right now, from you at least, but once he's a little better, just show him you're really trying to fix things. Just, stop trying to force him into forgiving you. Stop making him think about. He doesn't want to, Ryan. If you just let things happen naturally, he'll see you really have changed. You keep trying to aggress on him and he fucking keeps snapping at you." Ryan frowns. He ruffles his hair between his hands gently before pushing it back into place again. Honestly, he doesn't think this will work. He doesn't think he's changed and he certainly doesn't think Ray will make any effort to seek an apology from Ryan unless Ryan tries to give one.

"He might not want you back, Ry," Gavin says softly.

"And that's something you'll just have to accept, Ryan," Jack agrees. "He might not even want to forgive you. You promised you'd move on if that was the case."

"I know, I know," Ryan nods faintly. "I just-" he doesn't finish. It doesn't really matter, does it? Jack puts a hand on his thigh warmly and it comforts him a little.

"The least we can do is help him get back to normal, though," Jack insists. "I mean, we were all kind of dicks to him in Los Santos. Geoff especially." Geoff scoffs loudly.

"Fucking fight me, Jack," he says shortly.

"Give it a fucking rest, Geoff," Michael groans and gives him a hard shove in the leg. Geoff retaliates by wrapping a heavy arm around Michael's neck and leaning on him lazily. Gavin quickly enters the fray by pushing himself up against Geoff's back and adding to the pile.

"Fucking, get the fuck off!" Michael yelps unhappily, squirming under the pile he's found himself under. "Why're you so fucking heavy?"

"Are you alright?" Jack asks Ryan gently. Ryan doesn't feel alright. He feels sick and tired but he understands what Jack is trying to say. This behaviour Ryan keeps trying to intimate from so long ago isn't doing him or Ray any favours. Jack is only trying to help.

"Yeah," Ryan promises. "Just tired." He'll have to think about it.

“I have to get going,” Jack sighs faintly. “I have a medic workshop with Kerry to do today. I'll see you guys later."

\- x -

"Ray, hey," Michael calls. Ray glances over his shoulder momentarily before stopping to let Michael catch up. He's on crutches so it's not hard. Unlike previously where only his lower leg was injured, he seems to have hurt his knee and thus can't bend it in the cast. Aside from that, he looks fine. Michael knows better than to assume anything based on how Ray looks.

"Hey," Ray replies and they continue down the hall together. It looks like they're headed for the same place, anyways.

"How are you doing?" Michael asks and he makes a mild nod at Ray's leg. Also much like the first time, Ray sports a knee length skirt that hangs from him like bag caught on a fence post. He's really been losing weight. Though Ray's made it exceptionally clear he isn't a stranger women's clothes, Michael is certain that being able to get a skirt on over his cast probably helps. This could just be a coincidence, though.

"Fine," Ray says nonchalantly. "How're you?" This false friendliness of Roosterteeth still rubs Michael the wrong way, sometimes. While he's unfortunately found himself also greeting strangers automatically, it takes away from the fact that he actually does care how Ray is doing.

"Last time I heard, you'd just had a heart attack and now your leg's broke so maybe you wanna rethink that 'fine'?" Michael points out. Ray looks down at his cast a bit before shrugging.

"I twisted my knee trying to get out of the restraints," Ray explains. "It's not broken, Blaine just moved it back into place." According to Jack, Ray had absolutely lost his shit once in the medical wing. Him injuring himself doesn't surprise Michael in the slightest.

"How's your heart?" Michael asks. As far as he knows, most people aren't up walking around so soon after something so severe. With Ray in the condition he's in, this should be doubly so.

"I had a reaction to something," Ray answers. "Not a big deal. 'm fine." He's such a liar. He doesn't even know how to tell the truth, does he?

"That's a big fucking reaction," Michael murmurs. Ray just shrugs. They walk in quiet for a bit before Michael reaches for the butterfly knife in his pocket. The movement, for whatever reason, startles Ray and he jerks sideways hard. Michael isn't even sure what he's done but the look on Ray's face is, very momentarily, horrified. It's gone instantly but it does make Michael pause for both of their safety. He doesn't need Ray jumping at him or something.

"Whoa, chill," Michael says steadily. Sure enough, Ray shakes it off quicker than it'd even happened and lets out a heavy breath. Slowly, Michael pulls the knife from his pocket to hold out. "Here, man, this is yours."

Ray has to stop walking to take it, his crutches requiring both hands to stay upright, but he clearly recognises it immediately. He rotates the blade out from its handle, then back in before pocketing it.

"Thanks. I was wondering what happened to it," he mumbles. If that's not proof he doesn't realise he's doing it, Michael doesn't know what is.

"Yeah, you dropped it," Michael assures. Telling Ray he's reverse pickpocketing sounds a lot less believable especially if Ray is unaware of it. Ray gives him an unconvinced look. Regardless, he doesn't demand or even request a true answer. Maybe he is aware of it or maybe he just doesn't want to be. They continue to the cafe in silence.

It's not that Michael doesn't know what to say simply that he doesn't feel like he needs to say much right now. He gives Ray a hand grabbing something to eat and sitting at a table with it. Ray is more than capable but he's also accepting of help. Which is weird when he never wants help with anything else. He picks and chooses so carefully what he wants and when but only, it seems, when other people are involved.

Michael doesn't need any more proof, honestly, but he also has no plans of bringing it up; he's certain Ray is the product of an abusive home. For him, the signs are pretty obvious but then again, he had a lot of friends in that position growing up. He's not going to mention it to Ray and he's definitely not going to say anything to anyone else. He just knows how to help Ray a little better now.

"How long you plannin' on being part of our gang bang?" Michael asks as he unwraps a cheeseburger for himself. "Rwby says we'll be starting field work soon. You gonna be there for that?"

"Probably," Ray answers with a shrug. He eats but it's slow and deliberate like he can barely manage it down. Of course, he probably still feels ill from being in the medical bay. "Burnie's pushing to get me back on my feet so he can finish his whatever plan."

"I guess it won't be for another month or two? Something about a desensitisation workshop needing being completed first," Michael explains halfly. They have to go through it separately and Rwby can't say for certain how long each of them will need. He doesn't even know what the workshop includes, anyways.

"Yeah, I gotta redo some sessions before they'll let me off restriction," Ray agrees. "I have a facial reconstruction session all this week. Total bullshit."

As Michael understands it, Ray is currently restricted to only certain training courses unless accompanied by one of his team. It's sort of a sucky thing to do but then again, he does have a serious lack of self preservation right now. Then again, they haven't exactly been useful in stopping any of that, either. They may be partners but not by choice and Ray doesn't trust them anymore than they trust him.

"I've been meaning to ask, what'd you do to your hand, anyways?" Michael asks as he nods his head vaguely toward Ray's glove. Ray looks at his hand, taking a moment to flex his fingers before shrugging excessively.

"Broke one of my bongs like an idiot," he says. "I had to get some stitches."

"Harsh," Michael replies. No wonder it kept bleeding, it's probably taking forever for them to heal. Parkouring definitely didn't help. That's one less thing they have to worry about at least.

"I'm heading down to the labs," Ray tells as he finishes up what little food he's had and moves to get back on his feet. Michael does the same.

"I'll come with," he assures. "Been meaning to talk to Jeremy about this." With one hand, Michael motions to the fading scar on his face. It's getting better, a lot of it already gone, but he's managed to make several spots scar by rubbing and picking at it. Fairly, it was hard not to when it covered a large section of his face. Ray looks at him but it's an eerily neutral look and Michael has no way to know what it means. He makes no comment about Michael coming with him.

It still surprises Michael that Ray really is all too willing to make friends. He isn't sure if this is just for his own benefit, allies in many place, or if Ryan's right and he actually _likes_ having friends. They haven't done anything to him and until they do, he's not going to push them away.

The labs never change much but today, it looks different. Initially, Michael can't put his finger on it but it becomes clear almost immediately.

"Holy shit, where's short stuff?" Michael questions. Matt is weirdly by himself, perched at the usual table with who knows what in front of him. In the few times Michael's been down here, there's always been two of them. "I thought you guys had to stay within like three feet of each other or you'd spontaneously combust or something."

"I'm here," Jeremy assures as he pops out from underneath a near by desk and then disappears again. Michael's not sure what he expected.

"It's ten feet, actually," Matt corrects. "Or one of us might possibly explode."

"Wait, are you serious?" Michael replies incredulously. He doesn't look like he's joking.

"Yeah, well, one of us possibly ate a small high frequency vibration charge prototype," Matt explains.

"To be fair!" Jeremy pops out suddenly. "They were very tiny and very easy to mistake for trail mix."

"And one of us, possibly the same one of us, more likely ate the trigger charge. So if the trigger charge gets more than fifteen feet from the prototype, it's going to go off and probably burst our insides like a balloon," Matt says nonchalantly. "Among other things. We're not sure yet. That's why it's a prototype."

"On the other hand," Jeremy comments as he pokes his head out. "If it works, it'd be a great assassination tool. We've already proved the prototype is easy to swallow."

"Holy shit," Michael repeats. These two might actually be the most incompetent scientists he's ever met and he's never met any scientists. "How long ago did that happen?"

"This morning," Matt answers. Again, he shouldn't be surprised.

"So you're attached at the fucking hip the rest of the time just for fun?" Michael asks irritably. Jeremy peers out from behind his desk and exchanges a look with Matt curiously.

"Matt's my friend," he assures simply.

"Help me," Matt says.

"Matt please," Jeremy replies loudly but they both smile.

"I don't even think they hired Jeremy," Ray mentions quietly. "I think he just showed up with Matt and no one asked any questions."

"Hey!" Jeremy huffs indignantly, obviously having heard. "I have degrees. In stuff. Probably."

"Oh, great," Michael says sarcastically. Since he's here, no point in changing his mind.

"You need a drip bag, right?" Matt tries to bring the conversation back on track, not that it's ever been on track. Ray nods as he heads towards Matt's desk and Matt drags a chair over for him. Jeremy hops up to follow Matt into a connecting room momentarily before returning with him and a small container. He unpackages it and hands the box for Jeremy to hold.

"This is quite the cocktail of stuff," Jeremy comments in mild amusement as Ray tugs his sweater and shirt off. God he's so small. He's bruised bad but Michael can't say for sure from what. Matt sits behind him and Ray leans forward to let him work.

"Are you hot, Ray?" Matt asks curiously. Ray glances back at him with an unamused look. "You're sweating pretty bad." Likely not having realised until now, Ray runs his hand over the back of his neck and is promptly disgusted by what he finds.

"Oh gross," he murmurs under his breath before taking his shirt and wiping some of the sweat off himself. Obviously a little disgusted, Ray looks at his partially soaked shirt with a frown. He hadn't been sweating so much upstairs, what happened? Matt does him a favour and wipes his back off further with an actual towel before going to work. With the use of a weird, green light, he exposes some of the veins in Ray's back.

Jeremy suddenly pops into the middle of his vision and Michael nearly has a heart attack. He _has_ to remember that literally anyone that works here is capable of ridiculous fetes; even the useless scientists. Jeremy's so short, too! Surprise scientist!

"That thing on your face is looking bad," Jeremy sings with a whistle. It doesn't look that bad. Besides, it's not like Michael cares anyways. He's had loads of scars in the past and this one's no worse. Hell, he'd had a really bad scar after getting struck by lightening on the top of the Maze Bank. This is nothing.

"Yeah, I was going to talk to you about that," Michael says offhandedly. He glances around Jeremy a bit to see what Matt is doing to Ray. There's a faint mark on Ray's back where Michael assumes a prominent vein is. Matt holds the skin taut with one hand and with the other, he prepares a needle. Michael looks away again.

"You'll probably need to have it surgically removed now," Jeremy explains. "It's pretty in there." Again, Michael could care less about his scars but apparently people around here have a tendency of getting them removed to prevent from having any distinguishing features. This, of course, includes tattoos and Blaine has already offered to take those off. Obviously he was rudely refused but Michael sees the point.

"Is that, like, difficult?" Michael questions curiously. "It's not really that-"

"Oh!" Jeremy says without warning. "Have you been approved for MK yet? You'd probably take to it real well." He reaches out to squeeze Michael's upper arm with interest and Michael yanks away automatically.

"What? No? What the fuck does that have to do with-" Michael growls back only for Jeremy to light up again.

"We should definitely test your stability with MK. Oh, and Ryan's. I heard he was a fucking powerhouse on the stuff," Jeremy insists but he doesn't seem to specifically be talking to Michael. "Might as well do the rest of your team as well while we're at it. Get it out of the way, you know?"

"Jesus Christ, are you on fucking speed? What the hell's wrong with you?" Michael snaps. Jeremy blinks at him curiously.

"Don't mind him," Matt assures. "He tests a lot of his 'concoctions' himself. Messes with his head, you know?"

"Is that safe?" Michael asks, looking at Jeremy unsurely.

"Let's just say, Jeremy used to be taller," Matt says simply. Michael has no idea what he's supposed to take from that. Did Jeremy fucking make a drug that made him shrink, what the hell? He decides he doesn't care near enough to ask nor listen through a probably even dumber response.

"There you go," Matt tells Ray pleasantly as he finishes attaching the drip bag against Ray's back. Ray flexes his shoulders and back to test it but the bag stays in place. Michael assumes the needle is underneath it since he can't see it. "That should ease some of your symptoms."

"It's mostly herbal though," Jeremy adds on. "So it's not going to be as strong as you're used to but it also _shouldn't_ melt your insides." Ray looks at them halfly but doesn't offer up a reply of any kind. Instead, he just tugs his sweater back on and shoves his shirt into his pocket.

"Thanks," he murmurs. "Appreciate it."

"No problem," Matt answers with a smile. Jeremy appears at Michael's side once again and again, Michael jumps.

"I'll have Rwby set up a time for your team to test MK," he says enthusiastically.

"Okay?" Michael replies. "Maybe lay off the drugs, huh?"

"Uh, is alcohol a drug?" Jeremy questions back. Ray's already limping his way out the lab and Michael quickly moves to follow him instead of getting wrapped into anything else around here. Jeremy looks at Matt curiously. "Is it?"

"I'm gonna go with yes."

"Well I'm not doing that."

Michael honestly doesn't think he'll ever get completely used to this place or the people in it. He shakes his head faintly as he falls back into pace with Ray.

"I don't think I've ever succeeded in doing anything I come down here to do," he admits. Ray grins a little.

"They're good guys," he assures.

"Yeah," Michael snorts. "Whatever."

\- x -

Ryan doesn't pay much attention when the door to his room opens. He's so used to it, it doesn't bother him. They wander in and out of each other's rooms constantly. Still, he probably should have at least made an effort to put out his cigarette first. It doesn't occur to him until Michael flops down on the couch beside him.

"You doing that again?" he asks pointedly. Ryan glances at him and then to the half smoked cigarette between his fingers. He had stopped smoking sometime in Los Santos. It's hard to remember when but Ryan also recalls first chain smoking three to four boxes at a time in a pitch black, dirty motel room first. He thinks he made himself sick of them more than anything else. This is only number four, uh, five; barely half a box.

"Yeah," is all Ryan says and sighs as he takes another drag of it. He turns his attention back to his tablet and Michael leans on his shoulder to see what he's doing.

"Gimme one," he insists. Ryan arches a brow at him questioningly but reaches for the side table to pull another from the box and hand it over. Michael climbs over him enough to grab for the lighter and drops himself across Ryan's lap, and on top of his PDD, to light it. Ryan settles a hand on his back faintly.

"I didn't know you smoked," he murmurs.

"I don't," Michael scoffs. "Matt and Jeremy want to do that dumb test though so no alcohol, no caffeine, and no tranqs for twenty four hours. Which, man, is actually pretty brutal."

"Yeah," Ryan agrees softly. "You're liking those tranqs, aren't you?"

"Eh," Michael shrugs. "They're okay. Not something I'd do often." That's probably good. Ryan thinks the accessibility of drugs and medical service allows people to curiously wander into drug use but ultimately back out upon discovering it's not for them. Usually. Others, like Ryan, learn their lesson the hard way.

Ryan runs his fingers through Michael's hair and Michael leans his chin on the arm rest. Jack and Geoff are probably still doing their session with Ray. He's not sure where Gavin is. It's probably good Ray has people besides him to train with. Ryan knew Ray needed more time to settle his nerves but Republica, or more specifically Burnie, seems to be trying to shove Ray back into a run. He's a great agent, it's understandable.

"How are you doing?" Ryan asks quietly. Michael sighs out a breath of smoke and moves to nestle his arms under his chin.

"Fine," he replies shortly. "This place is definitely different. It's nice, I guess."

"You guess?" Ryan pressures on. He knows Republica isn't exactly heaven, but it sounds like Michael has something specific on his mind.

"I dunno," Michael shrugs again. "It's just kind of weird, you know? Like, I don't want to say 'too perfect' but it kind of is. I've never really lived anywhere like this."

"Roosterteeth is not perfect," Ryan promises. Michael snorts a laugh.

"Yeah, but to me it is. I mean, growing up it was always a struggle for something. Food or clothes or rent or whatever and Los Santos was just a shit hole. I couldn't move without thinking something was going to happen. Here it's just- there's nothing to worry about," Michael admits with a soft sigh. "It's weird."

"I wouldn't say there's _nothing_ to worry about," Ryan assures.

"But there's not," Michael argues. "I mean, we could just live here indefinitely. We don't have to do jobs and we don't have to complete any training. Rwby said it herself. There's no quota." He's not wrong. Their contracts are signed and there's really nothing saying they _have_ to work. Republica works off the assumption that people _want_ to work and they do.

"Yeah," Ryan says faintly.

"I'm not saying it's bad," Michael insists quickly and he laughs a little again. "I'm not used to it. Feels weird not to have to fight to survive, you know?"

"You like it here?" Ryan questions.

"A little," Michael admits. "I know it's dumb and something's, like, going to fucking gut punch me into realising how awful this place actually is but- yeah, it's nice."

"It's not- dumb," Ryan assures unsurely. He's not sure what to say. He knows what Michael is feeling at any rate. Ryan had an easier childhood, he doesn't know that struggle, but he knows what it's like to finally be somewhere comfortable. He'd found comfort in the people, Michael's comfort seems to come from the stability. It makes sense. Even Geoff couldn't offer the unquestionable stability that Roosterteeth does; food, water, and shelter. No questions asked.

"Whatever," Michael scoffs and he sits up to rub his cigarette out in the ashtray, only half smoked. "I just want Geoff to stop being a big bag of dicks and for you and Ray to make up already so we can move on with our lives." Ryan laughs. He snubs out his cigarette as well and Michael moves to straddle his thighs fondly.

"Me, too," he agrees. "Rwby says Geoff is making above average progress, though. I guess all of us being around really does help. And," he says slowly, "I'm not making any promises, but maybe I can stop being a screw up long enough for Ray to at least stop being so angry." Michael kisses him softly and Ryan rests his hands on his waist. It's nice.

"Dude, if any of us could stop being screw ups for one goddamn second we'd probably implode," he promises and drapes his arms over Ryan's shoulder. He sort of us a point. Ryan kisses him affectionately in lieu of a reply. When the door opens again, Michael glances over his shoulder just enough to watch Gavin burst in with Flynt.

"Bois!" he shouts excitedly. "Check out Flynt's new teeth! They're gold!" Michael looks at Gavin irritably but as he trots over with Flynt, Ryan can see the gold in her mouth. He isn't joking, she has gold teeth.

"Did Matt really give her gold teeth?" Ryan asks as Gavin jumps on the couch with them and happily pulls Flynt up into his lap. She's not a lap sized dog and overflows in every direction but seems content enough with squishing Gavin.

"Yeah!" Gavin confirms.

"Our dog has pimp teeth," Michael says lacking amusement. "Oh my god." Ryan pets her behind the ears with a chuckle.

"I think it's awesome," he murmurs. "I can't think of any other dogs with 'pimp teeth'."

"Right though!" Gavin agrees enthusiastically. "She's so badass."

"Oh my god," Michael repeats but he grins as he drops his head into Ryan's shoulder. Flynt bumps her head into Michael's side and he shoves her away lightheartedly. At least they'll always be able to tell which dog is theirs.

\- x -

Ray closes the door behind him and locks each lock, then unlocks them all and locks them again. And once more just to make himself feel better. He leans against the door tiredly and rests his forehead on the cool metal. Even though he's not hot, his skin is actually numb at the moment, he's sweating like a dog and it's awful. He yanks his sweater off and tries to soak up some of the sweat but it does minimum good.

Only using one of his crutches, Ray limps towards the kitchen and rests his hip against the counter while he checks the fridge. He doesn't keep a lot of food in his room, he never has, but there's plenty to drink and enough to snack. Ray opens a bottle of water and drains it in seconds, tossing the empty bottle into the sink. It makes him feel better even if just barely. He grabs another bottle to take to the couch with him. An unfortunate side effect of sweating so much, besides feeling absolutely gross, is dehydration.

Ray closes the fridge, then opens it again to grab a second bottle of water so he won't have to get up again. He opens the door one last time just because he thought he saw something. Right now he's not sure he could get any food down without making himself nauseous so he forgoes the thought and heads for the couch on his crutch.

As much as he'd like a shower, he doesn't want to take the time to wrap his cast and he knows he'll just be sticky again before he goes to bed. This can't last forever and he can wait until his body stops trying to drown him or at least until morning. Ray sets his crutch aside and lifts his cast up onto the coffee table for leverage.

Though he's broken his knee before, it's never been like this. Somehow he got his knee wedged between his femur and tibia so bad, it shattered. On the bright side, he won't be shattering the new fake one he has. On the downside, fucking cast. Blaine says it was weakened by previous injuries and now wants to do a bunch of tests to make sure nothing else is, too.

That all sounds really boring and tedious to Ray. He starts up his Xbox and while he waits for it to boot up, opens another bottle of water. Absently, he twists and untwists, twists and untwists, twists and untwists the cap on and off in his hands, busying his fingers for the moment. He picks up from the last game he played and is glad to finally be able to put his attention on something else.

A lot of people in Republica play video games and already, there's a few locked lobbies going on with names that look typical to everyone else but to Ray, hint at what the password is. He goes ahead and starts a single player match instead. It's easier than possibly having to bail mid game because he can't hold it together. Which turns out to be a good idea.

"Need a player two?"

Ray nearly hits himself in the face with his controller. He stares at Ryan for several long seconds, then glances to the front door, then back at Ryan again.

“What the fuck?” Ray murmurs in some stretched out form of confusion. How’d he get in? He’s too well aware that it’s not at all impossible to get through the locks on any Roosterteeth door but Ryan can’t do that especially without him noticing. Was he already in here? Rwby surely wouldn’t have let him in and certainly would have at least alerted Ray that there was someone in his room already. On the other hand, he wouldn’t be surprised if she did. Lately Roosterteeth seems to have its own idea of what it wants for Ray.

“You used to be better at this,” Ryan says as he glances at the television screen shortly then averts his gaze to look around the room. _Why_ is he here? Ray struggles to find words but they fail to form beyond complete confusion and never leave his mouth. Ryan looks at him and smirks a little half smirk that honestly terrifies Ray at the moment.

“That’s it?” he insists. “You’ve been ready at my throat ever since I got here, where’s that?” Ray tries to ease himself, breathing in steadily and back out in the rhythm he’s so accustom to already. He can’t have a panic attack right now, he can’t afford it. This ‘herbal’ shit is worthless.

“Please relax, Ray,” Rwby instructs calmly. “Breathe in and out.”

“Oh,” Ryan hums. “I see. You don’t like me in your room. That’s interesting, actually. It’d take even the locksmith an hour to get through that door, I see you’ve added some of your own locks. You’re certainly not getting very far with you leg in the condition it’s in and Blaine has restricted the use of Rwby’s ‘sedatives’ practically to nothing.” Ray’s heart lurches.

“Touch me and they won’t find you,” he warns in just barely a whisper. Ryan laughs. As he comes to sit beside Ray on the couch, Ray flings himself away with such ferocity that he loses his balance and ends up on the floor. He struggles hurriedly to get upright again but by the time he does, Ryan is already hovering over him.

“I’m not going to touch you, Ray,” he promises surly. “Let’s have that talk.” Ray knows the kind of talks Ryan has and those talks so rarely don’t include his hands. Ryan makes a stroking motion near his cheek and Ray flinches away but Ryan doesn’t actually touch him.

“Scan incomplete. Please remain still,” Rwby instructs. Ray isn’t interested in what she wants from him right now. Can't she see he's having a bit of an issue right now?

“Relax, darling,” Ryan purrs. “You’ve been so cruel to me lately and after everything I’ve done for you.” Ray shoves himself backwards, sliding against the floor uncomfortably as he tries to put some room between them. Ryan only follows him, though. He reaches under his skirt for his knife only to very quickly discover it’s not where it should be.

“Looking for this?” Ryan offers, spinning the elegant butterfly knife around his fingers. “Very kind of you to put it in my pocket for me.”

“Abnormality detected in scan six four six three. Severity low.”

“I’m not asking for much, Ray,” Ryan persuades warmly. “You’re too pretty to be acting like such a _cunt_ all the goddamn time. I’ve moved on Ray, and it’s about time you do the same. I know you still love me, it’s kind of hard not to, but I’m so much better off without you.” Ray urgently looks around for an escape or something to throw or anything to get out of this. He just wants Ryan to go away, that’s all. It’s hard to even think straight with the pain in his chest.

“Ray,” Ryan hums in annoyment. “I’m over here. Look at me when I’m talking to you.”

“I know it hurts Ray but please try to breathe,” Rwby urges again. “Nothing bad is going to happen to you here. You are safe.”

“Look at me when I’m talking to you!” Ryan growls at him loudly. He pulls his hand back and Ray shields his face instinctively to protect himself from the blow. It never comes. Cautiously, Ray lowers his arms a little but Ryan is gone. He whips his head around hard trying to find where he could have gone, but there’s no sight of him. Regardless, he can breathe a little easier now and some of the stiffness in his chest loosens.

“Where’s Ryan?” Ray asks quickly.

“I would not suggest approaching Ryan at this time,” Rwby replies reluctantly.

“Where is Ryan!” he demands, louder this time. She obviously didn’t hear him the first time. There’s a short pause that sinks dread into Ray’s heart.

“In the cafeteria,” she says.

“I-” Ray stammers out. “How did he get down there so fast?”

“Ryan has been in the cafeteria for the last thirty four minutes,” Rwby assures. He wasn’t, though. He was here. Oh, Ray gets it. He laughs a little. He’s dreaming, obviously. He’s going to wake up and probably bust his ass trying to get out of bed any minute now. _Why isn't he waking up?_ “How are you feeling, Ray? Your physical symptoms are receding very well.”

“Play the video from the last five minutes,” Ray instructs desperately. “From this room. Play the last five minutes of video from this room, Rwby.”

“Is something the matter, Ray?” Rwby inquires.

“What’s the matter is I’m losing my god damn mind! Play the video, Rwby!”

“Yes, alright. Please calm down.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next time on wbr we find out what mk actually does and why you shouldn't accept drugs from small strangers  
> ¯\\_( o no)_/¯


	9. They Say The Future

Despite the lot of them being a bit ornery, they manage not to drive each other completely wild on the walk down to the lab. Apparently twenty four hours without alcohol or caffeine makes them irritable. Understandable, really, especially considering everything else going on. The only thing Michael can say is that Geoff, in fact, can not get any worse and has suffered no mood chance in sight of this. Granted, he also didn’t get a mood improvement and thus is still about as insufferable as before with the only difference being they’re too short tempered to even bother dealing with him.

This better be worth it at least. Michael isn’t entirely sure what MK is or what it does, but apparently it’s some very strong stuff. Which, admittedly, doesn’t mean much of anything to them. They've had their fair share of run ins with 'strong stuff' before. When they come across the door to the lab, Ray is already there- sort of. He wanders through the door then backs up and waits for the door to close before walking through it again. Jack interrupts him when he backs out of the room again.

“Uh, what are you doing, Ray?” he asks curiously. Ray looks at him then to the rest of them before looking back to Jack.

“Waiting for you assholes?” he assures as if it should be obvious. Michael stands guard on Ryan, acting as a buffer to prevent him from accidentally having to talk to Ray but also assuring he has the self control not to talk to Ray. It’s obvious that there’s no way they can keep them apart in such a small building but this is the next best thing. There's no way Ray will go out of his way to have a discussion with Ryan.

“Are you going to be testing with us?” Jack inquires.

“Nah,” Ray shakes his head. “That stuff’ll eat my tummy away. I get rep for hanging out with you guys, though. Rwby uses it in evaluations.” That sort of makes sense. They’re supposed to be a team and the more time they spend together, the better their partnership should be. This probably isn’t going to be the case considering Ray doesn’t _want_ to be their partner, but it’s good in theory.

“That sounds great,” Geoff says sarcastically as he pushes past them into the room. “Can’t wait to see what my liver does with this.” Gavin wanders in after him and Jack gives Ray an odd look before continuing in as well. Michael trots alongside Ryan who, wisely, makes an effort not to look at Ray at all by instead pretending to be too busy looking through his PDD. Ray waits until they’ve all entered the lab and the doors have closed again before finally joining them. That was interesting.

“Ah, you're here," Jeremy alerts gladly. "We can get started immediately!" He gestures to the five treadmill like devices embedded in the floor and encourages them to each stand on one. Michael is a bit weary of the thing but a quick test with his foot makes it seem safe enough while still. He doesn't want to get yanked under the floor, after all. Who knows what's down there. Ryan stands to one side and Geoff to the other, both more at ease than him. It's probably less 'ease', actually, and more 'apathy'.

Matt helps drag over some IV stands for them, propping them up close by each of them for Jeremy to set up. This strikes Michael a bit odd, there aren't a lot of drugs that use a fucking IV drip. Perhaps it's just for testing, though. This stuff is supposed to be gnarly, how good of an idea is it to get a constant flow of it? The lack of any sort of official quality control makes it a little hard to blindly trust anything they do. Then again, Rwby assures no one's ever been fatally injured around here though she also failed to specify how many people have been seriously injured or crippled.

"Hey, you solve that exploding problem?" Michael asks Matt curiously when he comes to stand beside him and quickly tap things on his tablet.

"Unfortunately," Matt replies.

"Laxatives," Jeremy assures. Michael sort of regrets asking. He watches with interest as Jeremy starts hooking them up, starting with Gavin. Whatever is in the bag is unusually clear and the label reads 'Valve 04-PC2'. Interesting name for a drug. Ryan looks a little unsure when Jeremy starts hooking him up next, examining the needle in his arm with mute concern but not stopping him.

"Are you sure this is safe for me?" he murmurs. "Last time I was on MK it was corroding some pretty vital organs." That sounds really bad, actually. Michael is fond of his vital organs if he's being honest.

"Oh it's fine," Jeremy promises. "You haven't had any in the last six years, right? The effects of MK reverse over time so there's no problem."

"Do they, though?" Ryan insists unsurely.

"Course," Jeremy assures again. "Organs regenerate naturally over time. Usually. To my knowledge. Also, records say last time you were on MK you were taking enough to kill a large deer so, yeah. Probably shouldn't take that much."

"I'm a little concerned as to how you found that out," Ryan says, not much more certain than before.

"The deer is fine," Jeremy promises. "It has a human heart now."

"Jesus Christ," Jack mumbles mostly to himself.

"Not the part I was referring to," Ryan assures with a slight nod. "Thanks, though."

"Oh, well, hm," is all Jeremy says. Michael is a bit reluctant to try this now but he decides it's probably fine. It's not like he's going to wuss out or something, after all. He watches Jeremy insert the needle in his skin and flexes his arm once it's taped down. Jeremy moves on to Geoff and Matt hands Michael a little device with two buttons on it.

"Green one goes on the top," he explains and Michael palms the thing curiously. It's not labeled in any way but half of it is a bright green colour apparently indicating which way it points. He doesn't hit either button yet but he's certain it doesn't do anything drastic, at least not yet, because he's pretty sure Gavin has already hit them multiple times.

"What's this stuff do exactly?" Geoff asks as he leans on the brace of the treadmill. It lacks any sort of control or display, also concerning, but does offer a strong bar to hold onto. If Michael has learned anything so far, it's that Rwby is likely the main control for it. Even for a robot, or whatever they call her, it's impressive she can do all these things.

"It's a stimulate," Jeremy explains after a short pause. "It does a lot of stuff specifically."

"Specifically like?" Jack urges on pointedly.

"It's easier to show you," Matt promises.

"It mostly increases your focus, stamina, and energy," Ray comments from the chair he's tossed himself into in the corner. "To like, superhuman levels."

"Not quite superhuman," Ryan murmurs faintly. "But definitely above average."

"Plus a bunch of stuff that varies from person to person," Jeremy adds on vaguely. "For Ryan, it increases his judgement and helps linear his thoughts. Not a lot of downsides, though."

"Except the eroding organs," Ryan repeats. That's sort of a huge downside.

"Well!" Jeremy replies. "No _short_ term downsides."

"Uh, irritability? Short term memory loss? Inability to keep food down, loss of taste, loss of writing ability, a severe drop in reading comprehension-" Ryan lists off.

"All things that went away when you came down!" Jeremy insists like it's not that big a deal. "Besides, those could all be positive things!"

"Right," Ryan answers sarcastically. "But don't worry, it helped Ray's emotional connectivity then immediately made him vomit blood."

"Yeeah," Matt says slowly. "By the way, if it feels like your insides are liquefying, should probably let us know. That's _not_ supposed to happen."

"Well it is," Jeremy corrects. "But it's not a good thing that happens." Okay, Michael's back to being unsure about this. It sounds like there are a lot of things that can go wrong with this stuff. Jack's hooked up last and Jeremy directs their attention to the two blank screens positioned in from of the treadmills.

"Alright, the MK will take effect pretty quickly once we begin so here's the deal. Rwby will be keeping track of your vitals throughout the test along with some other things you don't need to worry about," he begins to explain. "The treadmill keeps you active and these screens here do the rest. It'll ask some questions, show you some pictures, and test some of your reflexes. You won't get very long to answer them so just use your best judgement if you don't know."

"The top button on your remotes are 'action' buttons and 'button a'. The bottom one is 'button b'," Matt informs. Michael glances at the little remote in his hand to assure he's holding it properly. He's assuming that's how they'll be answering the questions.

"Everything else I'm sure you'll figure out on the way," Jeremy promises with a grin Michael doesn't find comfort in. One of them is probably going to die is what he's getting from all of this.

"How do we know when we're done?" Geoff asks.

"Well, it's also a stamina test so it's only over when you can't continue," Matt assures.

"Technically, you could go for days," Jeremy agrees excitedly.

"No one's gone past a couple hours," Matt promises. "Though on the other hand, Ryan had been the one to set that bar so-"

"Let's begin!" Jeremy yips. "Ready up!"

"Ready," Ryan says immediately. He's probably ready to get this over with as quick as possible. Though he doesn't _have_ to do this, Michael finds it odd that he's making himself do it anyways. Then again, he is odd. Maybe there's something to this if he's willing to try it again knowing all the downsides.

"Ready," Geoff agrees.

"Ready!" Gavin assures gladly. Michael glances at Jack and Jack sighs like he isn't completely sure about this either. He just shrugs, though, at least willing to try.

"Ready, I guess," Jack adds in with some degree of apprehension.

"Ready," Michael says lastly. He's already here and hooked up so he might as well go through with it. Besides, people around here tend to make a habit of building things up to be worse than they really are.

"Great! Starting the test!" Jeremy calls enthusiastically. He wasn't kidding when he said it took effect quickly. Michael watches the first few drops from his IV before turning his attention to the screens. A countdown appears and as it ticks down to zero, the treadmill starts up. Though it starts off slow, it gradually speeds up to a full fledged sprint in moments.

Michael feels great.

He feels completely awake and energetic but it's not a wired feeling at all. It's not the jittery, forced awakeness that comes with coffee or Red Bull. It's more like just having awoken from a great nap- then took a bunch of speed. Initially, Michael finds it hard to concentrate on either of the screens, too busy focusing on his running. This treadmill is annoying; he wants to go somewhere.

"Michael, Gavin, you're going to want to answer at least one of the questions at some point," Matt mentions. Michael looks at him suddenly and Matt gestures to the screens. Right, that makes sense. Once his attention is directed, it becomes much easier to focus. This isn't that bad. Questions flick across the screen too fast for Michael to read completely and he learns very quickly to only read the important bits.

The questions seem to vary drastically from one to the next, Michael knowing the answer to some and not even understanding others, but he answers them all to the best of his ability. Everything happens so fast, he doesn't get the chance to think on any of them too long before he has to answer a new one. He can't keep track of how many he's answered nor can he keep track of time but eventually, the test introduces 'activities' as well that require him to time his button hitting or click it a certain amount of times.

It's slightly more difficult with everyone else doing the same thing. It doesn't alert him when he hits his buttons nor does it tell him when he answers a question correctly or otherwise. Michael feels like he's doing well but he has no way of telling. Then again, he can barely keep up with what's going on so he's not even sure he's answering the questions in time. Or remembers what they were. His brain is so confused.

"Jack seems to have stopped answering questions," Jeremy comments. Michael spares an expensive glance in Jack's direction. This test is just too tedious for him to pay attention to for too long. "And now he's stopped running."

"I can see space," Jack says with a small giggle.

"Alright, so Jack has managed to beat one to a million odds and is apparently immune to the stabilisers in MK. He's high as hell," Jeremy murmurs. Michael continues to hit buttons, but he's not particularly concerned with watching either screen. He figures he has a fifty-fifty chance of getting any question right and about a thirty-seventy chance of properly timing anything else.

"God is an astronaut," Jack hums contently and he drapes himself over the brace bar.

"Please get him unhooked immediately," Jeremy insists. Matt hurriedly goes about taking Jack off the IV drip. Once off the treadmill, he's unsteady on his feet and Matt has to help him sit somewhere. He was unsteady before but at least he had something to hold on to.

"Come here, Jack," Ray murmurs mildly as he gestures Jack towards him and Matt helps him over. "Don't freak out, okay?" Jack laughs obnoxiously and nearly headbutts Ray in the mouth when he throws his head into his shoulder. Michael glances at Geoff for a moment before looking to Ryan and Gavin on his other side. They seem to be doing better than he is, actually focusing on the screens and, likely, comprehending the questions.

Michael doesn't see the point. He needs to do something; put his hands on something. He's too restless to do this right now and running doesn't help. Honestly, he doesn't care what the square root of anything is. How does that help him? Why are there numbers in his face? Fuck you numbers. Fuck you math.

"Hey guys," Gavin says anxiously. "Is my brain supposed to feel like it's boiling?"

"Yes," Jeremy promises.

"That means the MK is probably, uh, melting your brain," Matt adds on as he swiftly moves to Gavin's side in a few steps. "And it's not a good thing that's supposed to happen. Let's go ahead and get you off there."

"I like my brain!" Gavin squeaks and he urgently tries to yank his IV out.

"Whoa, calm down. You're fine," Matt tries to placid him before he hurts himself. As soon as he's free, Gavin hops away from the treadmill and grabs his head with both hands. "Such a small dose won't hurt you or your brain."

"Probably," Jeremy agrees. Gavin yelps loudly and stumbles into Matt as he tries to escape to somewhere more comfortable. He ends up on his face and it takes him several uncoordinated moments to get back to his feet only to fling himself at Jack's side.

"We're all stars; far away from each other and burning out," Jack sings pleasantly as Gavin clings to his middle. Ray just pets his head calmly.

"You're a weird dude," he assures but doesn't seem bothered by Jack or Gavin piled up around, and slightly on top of, him.

"Not great results so far," Matt says with a mute frown.

"What are you talking about? Look at Ryan go! And Geoff's taking to it better than I thought," Jeremy insists cheerfully. "How are you doing, Michael?" It takes Michael a second to realise they're speaking to him and not about him. There's such a fine difference that's hard for him to comprehend outright.

"I hate shapes!" he yells angrily.

"Michael is, yeah," Jeremy murmurs. "You feelin' okay, buddy?"

"I want to punch someone so hard they explode!" Michael shouts. Both Matt and Jeremy take a step back. "How long do I have to stay on this fucking treadmill‽ I'm not going anywhere!"

"I think it's time to take him off," Jeremy says quietly.

"Don't touch me!" Michael barks without hesitation. Matt immediately beelines away.

"Never mind!" Jeremy squeaks. "He's fine!" Damn straight he's fine. Michael huffs loudly to himself as if he's proven his point. He's not sure what his point was but he made it. He made the hell out of it. The screen is very far away it seems so Michael stops even trying to pay attention to the questions. His heartbeat is in his ears and after a few more moments, he stops running, too. Now that he's still, his legs feel like jelly and standing is practically impossible.

"I'm going to lie down!" Michael shouts. He's aware he doesn't need to but he can't figure out how to control the volume of his voice which is sort of a weird feeling. Carefully, he plucks the IV needle out of his arm and proceeds to lie down on the still treadmill. Wow he is very tired now. Also very wet; sweat is pretty gross.

"Michael didn't do too badly, actually," Jeremy assures. Michael isn't actually sure if this is good or bad news; just news. "Geoff, Ryan, how are you doing?" The two of them still sprint without waver. Geoff isn't breathing hard but he is visually breathing while Ryan isn't even sweating yet let alone seems to be breathing. His eyes stay trained to the now single screen but Geoff's wander to examine his surroundings every so often.

"Kinda nice, actually," Geoff says with a faint shrug. "I was expecting worse. Eyeballs aren't melting. Hopefully my dick still works after this."

"Excellent," Jeremy grins. "You're doing great. Ryan?"

"What?" Ryan deadpans back.

"How are you doing?" Jeremy inquires again.

"You know how I'm doing," Ryan answers shortly. "Don't ask dumb questions."

"Fair enough," Jeremy replies with no offence taken. It doesn't look like either of them plan on stopping soon. Gavin has relaxed at least, if sitting with his face against a wall is relaxed. Jack isn't in quite as good of a condition.

"Hey, he supposed to be shaking like this?" Ray asks and both Jeremy and Matt look in his direction. They look at each other questioningly for a moment.

"Uh, no actually," Jeremy says. "But he doesn't seem to be seizing so he's fine. If he doesn't stop soon, we'll call a medic." So that's always great fucking news. Everything about this is simply going wonderful. Michael can not feel his feet. He sits up slowly, every movement heavy but being upright makes him feel less awful.

“Alright, we’re at forty five minutes,” Jeremy announces gladly. Have they really been at this for nearly an hour? It does not feel like an hour to Michael at all. He could have sworn he only ran for ten minutes or so. No wonder he can’t feel his legs; he just sprinted for thirty minutes straight. He’s never sprinted that long in his life. “Let’s bump it up.”

“Up?” Geoff repeats with mute distress. “This thing has an up?”

“Of course,” Matt assures. “Agents can go for three to four hours on a good run. I believe Ryan got to level five. Very impressive. Holds up even today.”

“Jesus Christ," Geoff says in clear displeasure. Ryan is, of course, entirely indifferent. He's having no trouble with this at all even if he doesn't look like he's enjoying himself. Granted, this isn't exactly for enjoyment. Carefully, Michael gets to his feet and has to stand still for a moment so he doesn't fall over. He can already tell, his legs are going to be sore tomorrow. He joins the dog pile in the corner, flopping down on the couch heavily to Ray's otherside. Jack lifts his head from Ray's lap a little but it looks like a struggle for him. Michael's extraordinarily concerned about this shaking thing but he has no idea how to convey this into action at the moment.

"Just relax, buddy," Ray comforts Jack gently. "You're fine."

"Oh shit!" All it takes is Geoff making one misstep to cease all progress. If it weren't for Ryan reaching across the treadmill between them and grabbing the front of Geoff's shirt, he likely would have been thrown into the wall by the speed of the thing; it doesn't stop nearly fast enough. Incredibly, even then Ryan keeps going.

"You really held in there, Geoff," Jeremy compliments. Geoff scoffs at him sourly, though. With everyone else done, Ryan calls it quits, too. There was really no reason for him to bother with it in the first place and it's not a surprise that he doesn't want to do it any longer than necessary. Jeremy looks disappointed but he also doesn't want to say anything to Ryan. Matt helps Geoff remove his IV.

"Wow, well," Jeremy says as he scans through his PDD with rapid finger swipes. "You all did about as well as I thought you would. Besides Jack, obviously. You okay Jack?" Jack holds up a shaky thumb.

"How long do we have to wait for our results?" Geoff asks and he wipes some sweat from the back of his neck.

"Oh, I can tell you now," Jeremy assures gladly. He gestures to Jack first. "Obviously, Jack can't safely take MK at all. It's pretty rare he had a reaction like that, though. We should probably do some looking into that."

"Weirdly enough, I don't think he minds," Matt comments. Jack doesn't bother with a response, if he's even capable of one.

"Well, weirder than that, the MK seems to have _lowered_ Gavin's IQ," Jeremy says curiously. "Not by much, but by enough. I mean, in small enough dosages, I guess you could take it but I don't know how much it would benefit you. It would be a pretty even trade off between brain and brawn, I guess."

"I didn't know it could go down," Geoff murmurs. It could possibly be a mean joke but with his current attitude, it's really just mean.

"Yeah," Jeremy agrees incredulously. "It went from an average of six forty to six hundred. Really weird." Ryan looks very puzzled for a moment, like he's trying to comprehend what that even means. That- sounds like a lot, now that Michael thinks about. Isn't the average like ninety?

"Wait," Geoff says before Ryan has a chance to. "You're telling me Gavin, our Gavin, has an IQ of six hundred and forty?" He motions to Gavin pointedly who still sits on the floor with his face flush against a wall. By the way he looks in their direction questioningly, he's probably fine. Michael has no idea what he's trying to do.

"Well, yeah?" Jeremy confirms, confused. "One of the highest in history. At least, in recorded Republica history. You kinda have to take everything else with a grain of salt."

"This Gavin?" Michael repeats, pointing at him again.

"He's an idiot!" Geoff argues.

"I'm right here, guys," Gavin insists indignantly.

"Hey, I said he has a high IQ, not that he isn't an idiot," Jeremy assures.

"There's some pretty interesting studies about it, but basically, the smarter a person is, the more risks they take," Matt explains. "It's not exactly that he's-" He pauses to look at Gavin for a moment before continuing. "It's just that, subconsciously to our knowledge, he's trying to find better ways of doing things. It's hard to explain."

"That?" Geoff asks again, gesturing at Gavin twice as hard. "Not that?" he assures by motioning to Ryan who also seems bemused by this information.

"I don't understand why you're not understanding this," Jeremy says shortly. "Gavin is a genius by modern standards."

"Gavin is an idiot!" Michael blurts out.

"Am I‽" Gavin insists. "Or am I so smart, I'm dumb‽"

"See‽" Michael shouts.

"That kinda makes sense, actually," Ray murmurs.

"No it doesn't!" Michael barks.

"It doesn't make any sense!" Geoff agrees.

"Not whatever the hell he just said," Ray promises. "I don't know what the fuck that meant, but like, everything else."

"Gavin was a high ranking agent of SIS," Ryan mentions halfly. "Which isn't easy, I imagine. Not to mention he has some pretty extensive, unusual skills and he survives _everything_."

"I rest my case," Gavin huffs from against his wall. "I'm bloody brilliant. I wish I knew sooner."

"Oh my god," Michael says aimlessly.

"See, now I'm kind of annoyed about the grenade thing again," Ryan murmurs. Gavin raises a finger like he's going to make a point but he doesn't say anything before shrugging animatedly.

"Moving on," Jeremy says. "Michael did very well. As long as you're active, you can take a recommended half dose every six hours. Of course, you probably want to watch the alcohol."

"Generally you don't want to have alcohol in your system when you take it and will want to wait at least twelve hours after you take it," Matt assures. That sounds like way too much trouble for how he feels right now. Honestly, even taking a smaller dose doesn't sound ideal. The only time he thinks he would consider it is if he's in a situation that he needs to get out of quick. Maybe it's something a person would have to adjust to. Michael isn't interested.

"Geoff, you did well too but, uh, it looks like your body isn't taking to it too well," Jeremy informs.

"Is that why I feel like my organs are trying to escape?" Geoff asks but he's pretty calm about it.

"Probably," Matt agrees and Jeremy nods. "You're gonna want to eat some alkaline foods. Or just have some baking soda. Whatever."

"Yeah, in the future, if you ever accidentally consume MK, you're going to immediately want to eat, like, a bunch of baking soda otherwise it'll erode your stomach and maybe kill you?" Jeremy suggests.

"So what about right now?" Geoff demands irritably.

"Right now we just injected it directly into your bloodstream so you should be fine," he promises.

"You know, I'm really starting to hate it when you guys say stuff like 'maybe' and 'should' and 'probably'. Aren't you supposed to be scientists?" Geoff questions. He has a point.

"I have a degree in architecture and political science," Matt says. Jeremy just shrugs like he doesn't know what to say. They let these two idiots drugs them, wow. Geoff presses on the bridge of his nose.

"Ryan, you absolutely excelled," Jeremy compliments eagerly. "I mean, you stopped way too soon but wow, that was _incredible_. I've never seen anyone manage to answer every question, max their speed, _and_ level their heart rate. I knew you were a machine on the stuff but you completely exceeded expectations." Ryan says nothing. He doesn't care even remotely.

"They call you Mad King for a reason, I guess," Matt agrees.

"Well, they call it MK for a reason," Jeremy corrects and makes a twisting motion with his fingers. "And that reason is him for obvious reasons."

"Can we go?" Ryan asks shortly.

"Oh, yeah," Matt assures.

"You know, you could probably start taking MK again in smaller doses-" Jeremy begins.

"No," Ryan deadpans instantly as he heads for the door.

"Good answer," Jeremy murmurs. Ryan leaves without bothering to wait for the rest of them. If he feels anything like Michael does, he's probably restless and agitated. Ray watches him go quietly. Jeremy pads over to check on Jack who, fortunately, has stopped shaking.

"You said for obvious reasons, but say it wasn't obvious?" Geoff mentions as Matt and Ray pull Jack into a sitting position and Jeremy checks his eyes.

"Sucks for you, then, doesn't it?" Ray says mostly under his breathe. It's pretty obvious he doesn't want to talk about this.

"We weren't here for it personally," Matt begins. "But apparently, he was doing ridiculous fetes on the stuff. Besides being the only one capable of handling more than a few milligrams of it, of course."

"That's it?" Michael asks. "He took a lot of it and it did what it was supposed to do?" That actually doesn't sound that amazing. Jeremy and Matt look at each other.

"Ryan survived a purge because of the stuff," Ray says blandly.

"Like the movie?" Gavin inquires curiously. Geoff grabs him by the back of the shirt to pull him away from the wall.

"Like a thing that people, even people who aren't supposed to be there, don't survive," Ray assures. More super vague Republica stuff; it never gets old, does it.

"Is that- is that actually true?" Jeremy asks. "Not just a rumour?" Ray looks at him mildly. "Wow."

"Sure, that too, supposedly," Matt is swift to reply. "But mostly because he could function on the stuff for a week straight without dying. I don't even know if he slept on this stuff. I'm not sure you even can." He seems very quick to skip over this bit of information. Michael, unfortunately, isn't sure if this is suspicious or just average around here.

"Uh huh," Geoff says plainly. "So when do we start talking in riddles and half truths because that sounds like something I need spandex for like the fucking Riddler or something."

"When you start having information worth something," Jeremy assures with a grin. "You guys are probably going to want to take it easy the rest of the day. Your bodies weren't entirely ready for this."

"And, Michael, Gavin, if you decide you want to use MK, just let us know," Matt assures. "We'll get you some personalised doses."

Absolutely not.

\- x -

"Ryan!" Jack snaps at him the moment he realises what Ryan is doing. Ryan only pauses what he's doing, peering at Jack with a mixture of annoyance and confusion as they enter the room. "Give me that!" When Jack moves to take the bag of white from him, Ryan quickly jerks it away. This may be more out of instinct than anything else but knowing that doesn't make Jack any less agitated about it.

"Give it to me," Jack demands firmly. Ryan glances at Geoff, then Michael and Gavin, before tentatively handing the little baggy over. He knows better. At least, he should. Jack snatches it from him harshly, balling it up in his fist to dispose of as soon as possible. "Why are you taking cocaine!"

Ryan just shrugs, rubbing whatever remains on his fingers into his gums. Jack withholds his desire to smack his hand away.

"Stop!" Jack says loudly. "Jesus, what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing," Ryan scoffs. "You act like we've never done drugs before. What's your problem?"

"We've never done drugs in a building full of people who'd kill us for a bag of corn chips," Jack snaps. There is a big difference between Rwby observing them and Ryan just deciding to get high by himself and he knows it.

"You haven't," Ryan murmurs with an unamused arch of the brow. Jack's going to fucking strangle him in the bad kind of way. "It mellows out the MK, alright? Believe it or not, Jack, I'm an adult who knows what he's doing."

"You're right about one of those things," Jack scoffs shortly. Sure, Ryan likes to pretend he knows what he’s doing but honestly, he very rarely does. Uninterested, Geoff pushes past them to throw himself on the couch and gladly goes about rubbing his sore legs. Michael bypasses that all together to just fling himself on the bed. Gavin joins him, everyone more than content to just sit around in the aftermath of their brutal testing. They hadn’t exactly expected something so straining when the preface was ‘test this drug’. Ryan looks away like a dog who knows he's done wrong.

"We've talked about this," Jack says a bit quieter. Ryan exhales loudly. "Michael said you were smoking, too. Don't do this again, Ryan."

"I'm not," Ryan assures as if offended by the very idea. Hell, it'd be great if he was. Jack looks at him sourly and Ryan shrugs again in a dismissive fashion. "I'm not doing anything _again_ , Jack."

Jack shakes his head but he doesn't say anything else about it. The last thing they need right now, or ever to be honest, is Ryan relapsing. He throws the little bag into the trash with more force than intended before moving towards the bed. Both lads lie face down in it, completely unbothered by one another for the time being.

"How's your head, Gavin?" Jack asks. Gavin groans mutely against the sheets.

"Better," he grumbles out. "Doesn't really hurt, just feels weird."

"Michael?" Jack questions next.

"'m fine," Michael agrees halfly. "Just sore." Aside from the little things, they're all fine. Jack still feels a little off himself, to be honest. It was such a weird sensation and it happened so quickly. He's never had a reaction to anything like that before. It goes without saying he won't be doing it again. While he understands that was strictly for testing and MK isn't nearly that intense in smaller doses, it seems like a lot of trouble for short term payback in most cases. He isn’t sure why it’s so popular around here.

At any rate, Jack is glad they tried it. They now know some things that will be good to know later. Plus, now they won't have to find out they have a horrible reaction to it at the worst possible moment like they surely would have otherwise because they are not generally smart people. It seems that way sometimes, at least.

Ryan sits himself on the opposite side of the couch while Geoff switches through some channels. Jack takes the time to wash his face in the bathroom. With everyone exhausted, it's very quiet in their room. This isn't exactly an abnormal thing lately, either. Republica has been working them thoroughly with their training and it often leaves them very tired at the end of the day. Though it wasn’t unusual that they would exhaust themselves back in Los Santos, here it’s more a productive exhaustion; not a ‘we almost died again let’s never do that again’ exhaustion. Jack kind of likes it.

"Don't touch me," Ryan says plainly from the living room. Though obviously they’re not that tired. Jack shakes his head mildly as he runs his fingers through his beard.

"God, everyone around here is so fucking moody lately," Geoff huffs. "Apparently a guy can't cuddle with his boyfriend anymore."

"Remember when you bit the shit out of me?" Ryan reminds him irritably.

"You're still hung up on that?" Geoff grumbles like it wasn't that big of a deal.

"I still have a scar," Ryan assures him in a vague suggestion of 'yes'. Jack goes ahead and intervenes before this gets out of hand again. When he exits the bathroom, the lads are tangled together nuzzling their faces together affectionately. Geoff and Ryan aren't. Jack sits himself directly between them for some distance. Ryan huffs loudly but Geoff is more than happy to drape an arm over his shoulders.

From there, though, it's peaceful. Ryan leans his head on Jack's shoulder after a bit and while Jack and Geoff lazily watch a terrible movie, Ryan flickers through his PDD again. They're hard to put down sometimes. Rwby has many good reads to suggest and Jack has found it easy to busy himself in their periodic down time thanks to this.

"Ray's on the departure list for tomorrow," Ryan mentions off handedly. Jack looks at him curiously.

"I thought he couldn't take any jobs right now?" he points out.

"Yeah," Ryan agrees. "I thought that, too." Ray is definitely in no position to go on any sort of job right now. His leg is still broken for one and for two, literally any other reason ever. Ray is honestly little more than a train wreck right now, surely they wouldn't let him out on a job.

"He's not listed for anything but I guess I wouldn't know if he was," Ryan adds on. If he's going out so soon, Jack would bet he's going solo. No one would risk doing a job with him in the state he’s in.

"I should talk to him," Jack murmurs. At the very least, he doesn't need to be going alone. By ‘no one’, obviously Jack meant no person with any sense of common sense or rationality and doesn’t include them.

"Better you than me," Ryan replies and it sounds a little sour on his tongue. Whether it's towards Jack or himself is unclear. He stands, stretching mildly as he does, and tucks his PDD under his arm. Unlike the others, he's significantly less sore. "Well, I'm going to bed."

"By yourself?" Jack asks. Ryan nods.

"I'm a lot more restless than usual like this," he admits. "Wouldn't want to keep anyone else awake." Jack doesn't think he's going to be sleeping.

"Alright," Jack murmurs. "G'night."

"Good night."

\- x -

With everyone else in some form of extreme soreness, it's up to Jack and Gavin to grab breakfast. Truthfully, it would be much easier to just have Rwby send something up but after yesterday, Jack isn't too keen on sitting still. Gavin comes along with only mild complaints. While his head has cleared up, Ryan got a terrible migraine mid night. There's really no telling what from but it's best to leave him, and the other two grumps, alone for a while.

Surprisingly, or otherwise, Ray has perched himself in the cafe on his own. It's still early so if he is going somewhere, he'll probably be leaving soon. Now is as good a time as any to have a chat with him. Will he listen to Jack? Probably not but it's worth a try.

"Go ahead," Jack tells Gavin faintly. "I'm gonna talk to Ray."

"Mm, okay," Gavin replies sleepily. As Jack approaches, Ray peers up at him with a tired look on his face. It doesn't look like he slept well at all, if at all. His gloved hand seems to have crawled up his arm, as well, bandages now wrapped tightly around his wrist and forearm. Jack doesn't mention it.

"Morning," he says quietly. Ray nods a mute greeting and Jack helps himself to the seat across from him. "So, uh, we sort of noticed you were heading out today."

"Yeah," Ray confirms. "New York." That's pretty far away. Jack isn't exactly sure what to say.

"Do you- need help or something?" he offers. "I'm sure Michael or Gavin would be happy to go with you. Could always use someone to watch your back." Ray looks at him questioningly like he doesn't understand what Jack is offering. It seems pretty straightforward to Jack.

"Nah," Ray assures. "I don't think I need backup while visiting my parents." Parents? Ray has parents?

"Oh," Jack says. "I thought you were taking jobs again," he admits. "I- never mind, I guess?" Parents?

"Nope, instead of being a badass, I'm just a homesick loser," Ray promises with a soft little yawn and he pokes at his food a little more. He’s still not eating well. "I doubt they'd let me take any jobs anyways. Figured it was dumb to even ask at this point."

"Well, somehow I don't think you want to bring Michael or Gavin to meet your parents," Jack murmurs. Ray snorts a short laugh.

"Not this time," he agrees. "Maybe next time." It's hard to yell if this is a joke or not mostly because it's hard to comprehend that Ray has _parents_. Parents that he _visits_. Jack is so used to the people around him being in such stressed relations, if any, with their families that it had never even occurred to him that Ray even _had_ parents. It's so weird to think about.

"I hope your trip goes well, then?" Jack offers awkwardly. Now that he thinks about it, he has no idea how a person would even interact with their family. But here Ray is, supposedly going to visit his family willingly and have a break from all of- this. If anyone needs it, it’s certainly him.

"Yeah, thanks," Ray replies. "And, uh, thanks for the concern anyways. It's fuckin' weird, don't get me wrong, but thanks."

"Course," Jack says simply. It's not like he was going to watch Ray leave on a potentially dangerous mission while being injured and not worry. What can he say? Ray has really grown on him in some weird way. Jack returns to Gavin's side with some confusion still lingering. It's entirely possible Ray is lying about where he's going, Ray does that a lot, but it seems like such a weird lie.

"Got the food," Gavin assures as he holds up the basket happily. Jack doesn't even bother checking it for himself, too baffled to think beyond Ray possibly having parents. Not only parents but parents he might have a good relationship with?

"Ray's taking a trip home," Jack mumbles. Gavin perks up real quick.

"Home?" he repeats. "What do you mean 'home'?"

"Where ever his parents live, I guess? New York, he said," Jack answers mildly. He doesn't actually know. It really isn't his place to snope, anyways.

"Whoa," Gavin says in amazement. "I thought Ray was born in a lab from pure fear and fps games."

"That's what I thought," Jack agrees. "Do you think Ryan knows?"

"Pff let's find out!" Gavin insists. He can't get back to the room fast enough and Jack has to make sure he doesn't drop anything on the way back. He does, of course, and only gets impatient when Jack has to stop to pick it up. At least he's feeling better after yesterday. No way that boy's a genius.

Once in the room, Gavin can't contain himself.

"Ray's going to visit his parents!" he alerts everyone all at once. Ryan pushes his hands against his head in sheer agony.

"I _hate_ you," he breathes out slowly. Perhaps shouting around someone recovering from a severe migraine isn't ideal.

"Whoops," Gavin says softer. "Sorry Ry Bread. I forgot."

"So with all this Repub tech, when do we get a mute Gavin button?" Michael asks to no one specifically. Ryan lowers his head onto the table gradually and lets out a pitiful little groan. Geoff rubs the base of Ryan's neck gently as he places a glass of water beside him.

"Ray has parents?" Geoff repeats in mild disbelief. "That he's visiting?"

"That's what he said," Jack confirms. He's pretty sure he didn't misunderstand that part.

"Like, willingly?" Michael murmurs with an sudden air of unease. "Republica isn't making him go, right?"

"I don't know?" Jack answers. "Why would they do that?"

"I dunno," Michael scoffs sharply. Ryan makes a strangled noise and Michael quickly lowers his voice down to a whisper again. "Did he say what he was doing?"

"Just- visiting," Jack says and he shrugs a bit.

"Did you know he still talked to his folks?" Gavin asks as he carefully plucks at one of Ryan's hands. Ryan lifts his head just a touch to squint at Gavin unhappily.

"What?" he grumbles. " _No_. Ray never talked about his family. Ray never talked about _anything_. I think we've all found out already I know jack squat about Ray."

"You don't think he'd try anything stupid in his condition, right?" Michael asks anxiously. Ryan makes a vague noise of not knowing but the question wasn't entirely directed at him.

"What do you mean?" Jack inquires curiously. Michael shrugs hard, quickly going on the defensive for no clear reason.

"Fuck if I know. I just don't want 'im doing something dumb while he's fucked up and shit," he huffs shortly. That's a valid concern but again, Jack really has no idea if Ray was telling him the truth. He should really know by now there's no point in trying to dissect anything Ray says. They just have to take everything he says with a grain of salt and they probably always will.

"We'll just have to wait and see," Jack assures. He didn't bother asking when he'd be back, either. There's really no telling.

"I feel like every time we 'wait and see' with Ray things get worse," Geoff mentions.

"Anything we do with Ray only ever makes things worse," Gavin points out. Geoff nods in mute agreement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do u like music? of course you do literally everyone likes music what a ridiculous question listen to some music! listen to [is it true you just don't care?](http://8tracks.com/unculturedegg/is-it-true-you-just-don-t-care) and [god awful shitty feeling of dread](http://8tracks.com/unculturedegg/god-awful-shitty-feeling-of-dread) by unculturedegg. listen to [watch me fall apart by FlossieF](http://8tracks.com/flossief/watch-me-fall-apart). listen to [no known solution by purplesodapop](http://8tracks.com/purplesodapop/no-known-solution). listen and love them for making me cry. if you've made me something, anything, and i haven't listed it yet, please send me a message immediately o wo


	10. Out To Get You

Michael is up for the desensitization workshop first. Then Gavin, Jack, and finally Geoff. Ryan apparently did well enough on his pre-emptive test to not warrant having to take the workshop again. To be perfectly honest, Ryan can’t even remember what the workshop entails or what he did in it nor is he sure why he had needed it in the first place. That is probably because it has been so long since he’s taken it and if the name is anything to judge by, it’s likely not something that needs to be retaken at any rate. It’s not like he ‘re’ sensitized while he was gone. They have to take it one at a time but within Republica, that isn’t so bizarre. Especially in well knit groups like they are, Rwby wouldn’t want to keep them fully separated for very long.

Unlike most workshops, which vary slightly from average training sessions or classes, this one doesn’t require any preparation. Come the morning of, Michael simply showers and heads off. They’ll see him in a few days, Rwby assures, eight at most. Ryan isn’t worried about him, Michael knows what he’s doing, and he expects the lad to be out in maybe a day or two. In the mean time, it’s down to he, Jack, Gavin, and Geoff. Otherwise known as the three people who are not having a great time handling Geoff and Geoff.

Sure, he’s been mellowing out lately, but it’s a very slow and gradual process. Ryan can see him starting to censor himself again, words that he’s certainly always thought but knew how to filter out. They all have things they know not to say; it’s the nature of people like them. As long as Geoff can go back to not saying those things, everything will hopefully go back to normal.

Whilst Gavin trains with Flynt, and Ryan can’t imagine what they’re trying to train her to do, Geoff is busy learning some new strategy skills so Ryan seeks out Jack. Like the rest of them, Jack has been keeping himself busy with lots of different sessions and classes based on Rwby’s suggestions so it’s odd to see him not off doing something in the middle of the day like this. It’s not hard to find him, he doesn’t seem to have left his room all day, and Ryan lets himself in. Like in Los Santos, they’ve learned to lock doors when they want privacy and that locked doors mean now isn’t the time. Jack hasn’t locked his door; perhaps unintentionally.

“Jack?” Ryan questions curiously as he peers in. Jack is perched on the edge of his bed, faced away from the door, but he rubs his face when he hears Ryan. The familiar bright light that shines from a panel in the wall alerts Ryan to what is wrong immediately. He frowns to himself; it’s so early. “Are you alright, Jack?” Jack nods quietly but he sniffles a little as he tries to recompose himself. Ryan moves towards the bed and Jack looks at him halfly, eyes wet and face a touch red.

“Do you need something?” Ryan offers softly. Jack shakes his head. “Can I do something for you?” Another mute head shake. It’s unfortunate, but Ryan knows there’s not much he can do for him in times like these. He sits beside him and Jack lets out a quiet little sigh. Ryan knows how frustrating it can be when parts of your brain don’t want to cooperate and simple functions become absolute nightmares. It’d be ridiculous to compare their conditions but Ryan also knows what it’s like to try medication after medication and have nothing work. It’s terrible.

“Do you want to do something?” Ryan asks. The best thing right now would be to get Jack moving and stop him from falling into the rhythm of never getting out of bed even if that's all he wants to do.

“No,” Jack says with a small shake of the head.

“Can you?” he questions gently. Again, Jack just shakes his head and the little hitch in his chest as he tries not to come to tears again is the worse. Ryan wraps an arm around him affectionately. He toes his shoes off and gingerly gestures Jack to lie down. “It’s okay,” he assures. “I’ll lie down with you, okay?”

Without any argument, Jack nods and he joins Ryan as comfortably as he can manage. The light box in the wall dims dramatically as they relax a top of the cool sheets. They all know how to help Jack manage, it’s simply another thing they’ve learned to add into their lives over time, and leaving him alone is never ideal. Even if sometimes he wants to be. With gentle fingers, Ryan wipes some of the wetness from around Jack’s eyes. Jack exhales slowly.

“You have something better to do with your time,” Jack insists. “I’ll be fine.”

“Nah,” Ryan replies. “All I’ve been doing is refreshers, anyways.” All those incredible skills that had all but gone dormant while he was in Los Santos have always lingered just below the surface, emerging every so often under duress but rarely staying long. It only takes some ‘gentle’ reminders to start everything up again. It takes a little bit more to sharpen those skills back to what they used to be, though.

“Do you really not like being here?” Jack questions quietly. Ryan isn’t sure what to say.

“Republica’s changed,” he admits. It’s hard to complain when all their needs are being met. As of now, the good largely outweighs the bad. That may be because most of the 'bad' is currently only theoretical but there is only time until it becomes much too real. “I’ll admit, maybe I was wrong. It could be better this time around.”

“When did it start going bad for you last time?” Jack asks.

“When I left,” Ryan laughs. Republica had never changed, likely never will, but after leaving Ryan had a different view on things; the rose coloured glasses came off. To this, Jack doesn’t have anything else to add. Everyone seems to be enjoying their time here to some degree but Ryan can’t say that’s odd considering where they had come from. This is only the intro phase, though, it’s yet to be seen if they will still feel that way when they start taking jobs.

“To be honest,” he says with a faint laugh. “I’m not sure I remember how to improve myself anymore. I don’t know what I’m going to do when the rest of you catch up.”

“You say that like we’ll ever catch up with you,” Jack replies shortly.

“Uh, Gavin is a genius,” Ryan reminds him pointedly. He had a head start, that's all. Perhaps not even the best head start at that.

“Yeah,” Jack snorts. “Right.” His tone is mute and Ryan can't tell if he doesn't believe it or is simply confirming.

“Besides, you’ve made some ridiculous progress since we’ve been here,” Ryan assures. “You used to be in the FBI, Jack, that’s not easy.”

“Barely,” Jack huffs. “I did desk work. The only reason they sent me after Geoff was because I literally didn’t look like I was FBI.”

“So?” Ryan questions curiously. “That's still a skill, you know. Besides, lying to the FBI for months, maybe even years, definitely isn't easy. You don't give yourself enough credit." Idly, he brushes his fingers over Jack's hip and waist, following the soft curves of his pudge. Jack sighs a little.

"I guess," he murmurs, definitely disbelief.

"I mean, if you want to get technical, I dug holes for pools before I worked for Rooster Teeth," Ryan assures. To this, Jack does let out a small, amused snort. Ryan touches their foreheads together softly. "I think FBI training is a lot better of building blocks than that."

"Okay, you're probably right about that," Jack agrees with an easy little smile.

"You said yourself, they sent you after Geoff for a reason. Hell, Geoff had to be told you were FBI and the rest of us surely didn't figure it out," Ryan insists.

"Alright, now you're just pandering to me," Jack rolls his eyes but his grin doesn't fade. Ryan kisses him faintly.

"Pandering is a strong word," he replies simply. "I like praise better." Jack lets out an airy laugh. Even if it only lasts a little while, it's important to help Jack keep his head above water. He needs it more than ever right now.

It's easy to fall asleep like this and Ryan finds the nap at least somewhat restful. He's still not sleeping incredibly well but his insomnia has receded for the time being. This likely has nothing to do with him or his stress levels and more with Rwby changing things to assist his needs. They're such little things, Ryan's not surprised he hasn't noticed.

She does the same for Jack, of course, adjusting the light box to fit his needs. At home, Michael had wired the small and somewhat ineffective box up to a wireless receiver but it was largely immobile and restricted Jack to the bedroom for his light therapy. Here, Rwby can move it with him. It's really hard to say everything about Republica is bad when they're provided with everything; no questions asked. Sure, that's because they're being groomed to the most efficient workers they can be but Ryan supposes that's not a bad thing.

Ryan only awakens when the bed begins to shift more than strictly necessary and he sees Jack getting up. He yawns faintly and it causes Jack to peer at him, offering a small, sheepish smile.

"Sorry," he murmurs. "Didn't mean to wake you."

"Mm," Ryan hums back. The small nap is refreshing, really, and had he slept any longer he probably would have been groggy the rest of the day. Not exactly unusual for him but still. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," Jack says quietly. Ryan isn't sure whether to believe him or not. "I'm gonna get something to eat then maybe go talk to Lindsay. She said there was something she wanted me to see, I think? Just need to get out of this room, you know?"

"Yeah," Ryan agrees as he picks himself up and ruffles his hair with his hands before pushing it back. "That sounds like a good idea. Want me to come with you?"

"I'm okay," Jack assures. "Gav's going to take a break to have lunch with me."

"Alright," Ryan nods. Gavin has certainly been working hard lately. He's probably still trying to impress Meg which is cute. Sorta. It's mostly just hilarious, though. Gavin has no idea what he's getting into and Ryan can't wait to see what happens when he does.

"Will you check on Geoff, though?" Jack asks as Ryan starts pulling his shoes back on. Geoff on the other hand, seems to have been spending a fair amount of time with his old 'buddies'. It still makes Ryan severely uncomfortable to be honest but surely Geoff has a handle on things. Burnie and Gus have just been the overlord orchestrators of all their problems for literal years is all.

"I'll do that," Ryan agrees with a yawn. "Maybe he won't be a complete asshole today." Jack snorts out a laugh of vinegar disbelief. Weirdly enough, today probably isn't that day. For a moment, Ryan just sits at the edge of the bed after Jack has gone. He shakes some of the lingering sleep from his bones before getting to his feet and heading for the sink. A quick rinse of his face properly wakes him up.

"Where's Geoff at, Rwby?" Ryan inquires as he pats himself dry again.

"Geoff is in training room D3," Rwby informs gladly. Obviously he either finished his study or got bored enough with it he had to move onto something else. He has been more restless lately. Ryan thinks it's more due to the sobriety itself and not actually another uncovered personality flaw like his nasty attitude.

"By himself?" Ryan prompts.

"Nope!" Rwby assures.

“No?” Ryan replies curiously.

“Geoff is currently being accompanied by Burnie and Gus,” Rwby explains. Honestly, Ryan shouldn’t be surprised. As unsettling as this is, Ryan hasn't done much today and he hadn't really planned to, either. Sometimes it's worth taking a breather. However, it probably wouldn't hurt to head down and join Geoff regardless of his less than appealing company. It would probably be better than leaving Geoff alone with them yet again at any rate. Ryan knows it isn’t quite his place to say but he can’t help the nagging feeling that Burnie and Gus aren’t being helpful to Geoff’s current condition. He grabs his PDD as he leaves the room and tucks it under his arm for the time being.

Walking through Republica now a days shows Ryan how much it's really grown since he's been gone. The building itself hasn't changed much but there's far more people bustling around than there had been before. Six years doesn't seem like a lot and maybe it's not but Ryan has changed a lot, too. The clean, sterile feel he had once found comfort in now feels vaguely unnatural and suspicious.

Then again, everything in Los Santos had made him feel the same way for many, many months. The only thing Ryan has taken from this is that everything is sort of unnatural and incredibly suspicious all of the time. That being said, Ryan sort of hopes they can start picking up off site jobs in the near future. He wants to see the real world again.

The collection of training rooms are significantly smaller than the training floor and are typically more often used. As Ryan pads through the hall to find where Geoff is held up, he peers into some of the uncovered windows. Some agents don't like to be watched when they train and some do, simple as that. He doesn’t linger on any of them for very long. The window of Geoff's room is covered, for obvious reasons, and Ryan goes ahead and fiddles with the door, requesting to train with him in a few finger strokes.

With Burnie and Gus about, it’s possible Geoff doesn’t want him here. Instead, Ryan hears the door unlock as the screen approves his request and he lets himself in. Geoff glances at him mildly and then Burnie does. Gus is more interesting in his tablet it seems.

"Where've you been all morning?" Geoff asks with a vague head nod.

"Jack's not feeling too hot," Ryan explains simply, gradually approaching Geoff’s side to view the video they’re watching. It seems like Geoff’s been here a while, though likely by himself as he is the only one sweating.

"Because of Michael?" Geoff questions curiously as he turns his attention back to the muted video. Ryan isn’t familiar with any of these people and without sound, they seem less than skilled. He’s curious as to what this is about but keeps any questions to himself. He has to admit he’s had some pleasant conversations with both Gus and Burnie in the past, they were very helpful to him when he had initially joined Rooster Teeth but now they just make him uneasy on his feet. This isn’t without reason, either.

"No," Ryan assures, making to keep this conversation between he and his boyfriend. Nothing is private around here, he knows, and especially not from the director. It's the principle of the thing. "His SAD is back again."

"Already?" Geoff murmurs. "Usually that doesn't happen till like mid September."

"I dunno," Ryan shrugs. "Maybe the move from California to the Gulf messed him up. Rwby should make it easier on him, though."

"Sure made getting clean easy for me," Geoff scoffs with clear unfavour. Ryan gives him a short look.

"Did you see the thing you called a liver that they pulled out of you?" he says pointedly. "You didn't give them much of a choice." There isn't even a comparison to make here.

"Beh. Whatever," Geoff says dismissively. To be fair, Rwby has been doing everything she can to help Geoff along whether he realises it or not. Ryan doesn’t think Geoff is ignorant to this but he won’t pass us a chance at complaining about having to be sober. This is hopefully a good thing, though.

“Ah, here it is,” Gus alerts suddenly. The video changes over and the the volume become audible. Even with sound, it’s clear these guys have no idea what they’re doing. Ryan's attentive at once.

“ _Do not- don- don’t run me over! Do not run me over! Stop!_ ” a fellow yelps somewhere from under the hood of a very large pick up truck. “ _James! Stop running me over! Do not-!_ ”

“ _Has anyone seen Adam?_ ” the drive asks loudly as he continues to knock one of his partners over every time he so much as begins to get up. “ _Where’s Adam?_ ” Obviously Adam is the unfortunate soul pinned under the front end of their fortunately very lifted truck. Everyone else is laughing humorously.

“ _James! You’re running me over!_ ” Adam shouts again. There’s a sudden crunch of a noise and everyone goes eerily quiet for a moment. They look at one another urgently but no one immediately does anything.

“ _Did you just kill Adam?_ ” someone asks shortly. “ _You just killed Adam, James!_ ”

“ _What? No,_ ” Jame assures immediately but he doesn’t sound very sure about this. “ _Adam’s fine. He’s- sleeping, yeah._ ”

“ _You asshole, you broke the laptop,_ ” Adam scoffs as he climbs out from underneath the truck, completely unharmed by some miraculous chance. He brushes himself off a bit and a cloud of dust puffs out from being rolled in the dirt so much. Irritably, he pulls his bag around to his front side and fishes out the now broken laptop, snapped nearly in two. “ _God dammit, James._ ”

“ _Look what you did, Adam,_ ” another says pointedly. “ _Why’d you break the laptop?_ ”

“ _Yeah_  Adam,” James agrees. “ _Why’d you break the laptop?_ ”

“ _What? Me?_ ” Adam huffs irritably. However, he doesn’t make much more of an argument against it. “ _Ah man, what are we going to do now? We needed that intel to complete our job, you idiots._ ”

“ _Well technically, we just needed them not to have it,_ ” someone mentions. “ _So we’re fine._ ”

“ _Oh so do_  you _know the security code to the ultra mega security vault made of like, I dunno, dicks or something?_ ” Adam asks shortly.

“ _Everyone knows you can’t cut through dicks,_ ” the passenger agrees with a pointed nod.

“ _Lawrence can hack it,_ ” James assures.

“ _I mean I can’t but sure,_ ” Lawrence interjects immediately.

“ _Let’s go!_ ” James says loudly and immediately knocks Adam over again with the front bumper of his truck. “ _What are you doing? Get in Adam._ ”

“ _James!_ ” Adam yelps.

“ _Come on, Kovic! Get in!_ ” the passenger demands with mute agitation. “ _We’re gonna be late!_ ”

“This is what you wanted to show me?” Geoff says blandly, gesturing to the screen. “This is the team you’ve put together?”

“They’re a little rough around the edges,” Burnie assures with obvious knowledge that this isn’t much to look at. ‘Rough around the edges’ is a bit of an understatement Ryan thinks. Though it’s muted, they continue to antagonise poor Adam trapped under the truck for quite a while. It does seem to be mostly harmless at any rate, as long as they don’t actually run him over which is a legitimate concern.

“What you’re telling me is that these guys were picked out by the computer to be the best possible combination of skills,” Geoff confirms. “These guys.”

“Well, best for certain things,” Gus insists. “They have their weaknesses.”

“Uh huh,” Geoff murmurs. “What are their strengths?” Neither Burnie or Gus say anything immediately. Computers have been wrong before.

“Friendship?” Burnie finally offers. “Look, this isn’t an exact science, Geoff. They work together very well, regardless of their success-”

“Or lack of it,” Geoff interrupts.

“And that’s pretty rare around here,” he insists. “Once they find out what they’re good at, they’ll be golden. Rwby hasn’t steered us wrong before.”

“Thank you,” Rwby beams gladly.

“Except for all the times she was wrong,” Gus comments.

“Well you can just suck it, Gus,” Rwby replies. She obviously didn’t appreciate that.

“Why are you showing me this again?” Geoff inquires. Ryan would also like to know that, actually. Surely Burnie isn’t trying to get Geoff to work with anyone else. He wouldn’t dare. _Geoff_ wouldn’t dare.

“This is Funhaus,” Burnie says. “We’re posting them up on the west coast.”

“More specifically, Los Santos,” Gus informs. Ryan already feels bad for them. “We talked with Griffon already.”

“So you’re turning Los Santos into a training ground?” Geoff asks, unimpressed. “Los Santos is a dangerous city. The LSPD is fucking brutal and the gangs aren’t exactly a walk in the park, either. You sure you’re not just getting these guys killed?”

“We’ll find out,” Burnie says simply.

“What do you want from me, then?” Geoff questions again.

“Comments, suggestions?” Burnie insists. Geoff looks at the video, unimpressed and obviously not too interested. Ryan isn’t sure Burnie is asking the right person and furthermore, is even less sure why he wants Geoff’s advice on anything. ‘Remember RVB?’ In the past, Ryan has never taken any measure to pry into Geoff’s past, none of them ever have, but it’s starting to get hard not to wonder exactly what Geoff has done.

“Dig some graves?” Geoff replies. “Look man, if these guys are as good as you say, they should be fine. You want my opinion, I wouldn’t throw them straight into Los Santos. Set them up in LA. It’s like, Los Santos’ less bitchy sister who probably won’t stab you. Griffon has someone holding down LS right now. Card or Barb or something, I dunno. Have them report there. Then maybe they won’t immediately get annihilated.”

“That’s not a bad idea, actually,” Gus murmurs. “At any rate, it would make sure we don’t immediately lose some of our assets.” Burnie places a heavy, friendly hand on Geoff’s shoulder.

“It’s good to have you back, Geoff,” Burnie grins and Geoff smirks mutely. “We’ll talk some more later.” They’ve been doing nothing but talking ever since Geoff got here. Still, Ryan keeps his comments to himself. It’s not his place to tell Geoff that Burnie is a dangerous force of nature capable of destroying things without the slightest hint of effort. They’re friends. That’s- nice. Ryan watches them as they leave but they don’t say anything to him largely due to his closed off stance; orchestrated actions meeting orchestrated responses.

“What’s with you?” Geoff asks, nodding at Ryan curiously once they’re gone.

“Nothing,” Ryan answers with a vague shrug. “Burnie just made the last year of our lives hell, that’s all.”

“Oh no, you had to face your problems with the ex boyfriend you betrayed,” Geoff says sarcastically and waves his hands in the air for dramatic effect. "Suck it up already, pansy."

“Ex,” Ryan corrects shortly. “When do you stop being a dick, again? Cause, you know, we already got five of them. Do you really need to add another here?”

“And yet after all of this, you still wouldn’t mind if it was Ray’s,” Geoff points out.

“Yeah, you’re fine,” Ryan says as he already begins heading for the door. “I’m gonna go, I dunno, step on rusty nails or something. Anything more entertaining than this.”

\- x -

Michael can barely breath.

“We gotta go,” Geoff murmurs.

“No!” Michael snaps back. “No! Help them Jack! Just- fuck, just,” he trails off as he pushes his hands through his hair in stress. They can’t just leave them here. He reminds himself that it doesn’t even fucking matter but he’s had to leave them behind far too many times today to do it again.

“They’re gone, Michael,” Jack says quietly.

“No,” Michael shakes his head. “No, no, I-”

“We have to go,” Geoff repeats. “They’re coming.”

“We’re not leaving them here!” Michael shouts. How many times has he seen them dead today? How many times has he seen Gavin and Ryan motionless on the ground like this? He’s lost count already. He’s lost count of how many times he’s seen Geoff and Jack dead for that matter, too. It’s a lot. Always his fault; always. He can’t win, he’s learned that very quickly. Every choice he makes is just a matter of which one is worse even if they sound like they’ll work. Everything is designed to see him fail again and again and again.

“What do you suppose we do, Michael?” Geoff snaps at him. Michael doesn’t know anymore. He’s afraid to do anything and he’s afraid to do nothing. He keeps having to choose and one of them being dead is better than all of them being dead, right? At least, he thought. Time and time again they prove to disagree with him on that. Not that it matters much when they all end up dead anyways thanks to Michael’s poor decisions. His heart twists just recalling Ryan taking his own life. God, or Geoff putting Jack out of his misery and then himself. Michael rasps out a breath he can’t get down right.

“We have to, bury them or something,” Michael urges. “We can’t- not again, please Geoff.”

“ _We don’t have time, Michael,_ ” Geoff snarls at him.

“Geoff,” Jack says softly. “If the FBI takes their bodies, Rooster Teeth is going to have a fit.” Geoff makes a face to himself, shaking his head mutely for a moment.

“Burn them,” he instructs flatly.

“Geoff!” Michael yelps in a voice way higher than he would have liked.

“Go stand over there, Michael!” Geoff yells at him. Michael flinches away in a way he’s _never_ done before. He shakes his head fiercely. Geoff thinks this is his fault; they both do. It’s not though. Michael didn’t have a _choice_!

“He said he could handle it,” Michael murmurs. “He said he had it, Geoff.” He can’t even watch as Jack urgently tries to find Ryan’s lighter in his pocket.

“Michael,” Geoff says between stressed teeth as he grasps his forehead in his hand. “Just go stand over there, please. You’ve done enough.” Before he can even completely finish his sentence, he’s dead. Michael should be used to it, how quickly it can happen, but if anything, it just gets worse and worse. A single shot floors Geoff permanently. There’s a moment where Jack doesn’t know what’s happened and when he realises, it’s already too late. It was always too late. The sniper and where it is, even if it is, takes him out just as quick.

The scenario ends.

This room is so disorientating, almost completely spherical and even if Michael wanted to, he wouldn’t know where the door even is. Slowly, he sits himself on the floor. It’s designed in such a way that he can never interact with anything, never physically touch the walls and therefore never break the facade of immersion. Or maybe designed to make him feel worse, to make him feel unattached from the fake people around him; isolated. Michael doesn’t know.

Rwby begins to prepare another ‘scenario’. They’re _fake_. _Everything’s fake._ It didn’t bother Michael at first, honestly. He knows real from fantasy but it’s getting to him. It’s getting to him _hard_. It doesn’t matter if it’s fake, it only matters that these are real possibilities. He never fooled himself into thinking he, or any of them, could do this forever but watching it happen over and over again is awful. Everything that could go wrong, everything he could do wrong, everything he has no control over; how long has he been here?

Michael’s not sure what’s worse really, that he can’t forget what their dying screams sound like or that everyone accepts it so easily time after time. They know just as well as he does, they can’t do this forever. The worse is watching Gavin collapse on himself in despair as realises everyone else is dead even though they did everything right. The worse is the sad, devastated look on Ryan’s face as he wonders if it’s worth it, still living. The worse is the way Jack tries to hold it together and when he inevitably can’t, won’t stop crying. No, because the worse is the way Geoff just sighs like he’s been through all this before.

The scenery around him changes and Michael dares to look up enough to see what’s happening. He regrets it almost immediately.

“No,” he says sharply and pulls his head between his knees. “Not Ray. Please not Ray.” Ray makes everything exceptionally worse. Every already delicately doomed situation becomes a wreck of deadpan assurance because Ray is just so much better at this than them, isn’t he? ‘They’ll die’ and they do. ‘I won’t come back’ and he doesn’t. ‘That won’t work’ like Michael doesn’t already fucking know. _Nothing_ works! Nothing ever fucking works! Oh and the way he sacrifices himself for them like he actually fucking likes them or something.

Michael can’t do this anymore.

“Please uncover your face, Michael,” Rwby ushers. “It will only take longer this way.” She can go fuck herself. Michael knows it doesn’t matter if he participates or not. Not doing anything at all is just as worse as doing something. The futility of doing something you know won’t work or the guilt of watching something you knew was destined to fail without doing anything. He doesn’t care. He just needs to collect himself again, that’s all. None of this is real.

God but it could be. In a years time, Geoff could be lying dead in the side of the road due to a single misstep. Tomorrow Ryan could be in the morgue, a bullet in his and Ray’s brains both. Jack could get caught without a vest, Gavin could pick up a faulty explosive, Michael could get in a car with an ignition bomb. Michael struggles to breathe, shaking as he tries to drown out the cluttered sound in the room that seems far too big than it could ever be. It’s so loud and the images are burned behind his eyes like the worse sort of film.

“You are not indestructible,” Rwby says. “You are not perfect. You never will be. You will make mistakes and in this line of work, these mistakes have the chance of being fatal. To you, to your partners, to everyone around you. There is _nothing_ you can do to prevent this. Please uncover your face so that we may continue.”

Michael doesn’t respond. Even if he wanted to, and he doesn’t, he isn’t capable of that. He hates it, but at the moment, he’s too paralyzed to even move. All he can hear is them screaming and crying and it bothers him so much more than it ever has. Why is this so hard? Why does he care so much?

“Michael?” Jack murmurs. It goes on without him just like it always does. “What’s wrong?”

“It looks like he’s catatonic,” Ryan says with concern.

“What happened, boi?” Gavin urges eagerly. Michael doesn’t respond, doesn’t dare. It can’t affect him if he doesn’t care.

“We can’t stay here,” Geoff insists. “Come on Michael, we gotta go babe. Gavin, Jack, get him moving. The rest of us are going to try to distract them.”

They must have a deathwish.

\- x -

Watching Gavin train with Flynt is interesting to say the least. Despite Flynt being a 'scary' breed of dog, she's not much cut out for anything more than health service. Sure, she looks straight up pimpin between the safety collar they have her in and her new gold teeth but that's about as far as it goes.

Gavin holds her back by the scruff, having been shown the proper way to hold her without injuring either of them, and Flynt barks with her maw of teeth but the second he lets go, she just kind of sits down. Though that's only if she doesn't rub up on the training dummy first. She doesn't seem to understand what Gavin wants her to do.

At any rate, Gavin understands this. When she finally takes a run at the dummy only to immediately flop down on her side in front of it, Gavin expressed exasperation but not disappointment. She's a good dog. Ryan watches on as Gavin tries to pull her to her feet but Flynt just thinks he's trying to love on her and excitedly wags her tail. Recognising this isn't working, Gavin gives in and rubs her belly.

He's been at this most of the day with zero results. They'd have better luck using Michael as an attack dog. Or Geoff. Ryan taps on the window with a few fingers and it lights up in acknowledgment. Gavin looks up at him, giving a curious look then a smile. With a beckoning motion, Ryan gestures him out. He's done enough today.

Gavin nods and Ryan heads down to meet him and Flynt at the exit. He's very obviously tired when he emerges from the K9 floor, Flynt panting heavily like she's actually done something and Gavin already hunched over on himself. Ryan puts a heavy hand on his back.

"Going great I see," he assures. Gavin snorts an unamused sound.

"Going lousy. Think I'm gonna have to give up on ol' Flynt," he informs as he stretches himself back out and audibly cracks his back.

"You know that's because she's trained already, right?" Ryan insists. They begin walking for their rooms, Flynt gladly padding alongside. She should probably be on a leash but it's not like she's going to go anywhere, either.

"Yeah," Gavin sighs loudly. "But how's that gonna help us? An attack dog would be much more help. Or even a search dog!"

"I'm sure she'd be a great help to Jack," Ryan points out with a raised brow. Gavin scoffs a little like he's annoyed he hadn't thought of that.

"Well yeah," he agrees. "Sure, but what about the rest of the time? It's not like we're gonna always need a dog that brings pills or whatever."

"You know, except for all the times that we're injured or something," Ryan replies. "Real shame to have a dog that'd bring us first aid or get help or 'whatever'."

"Boring," Gavin yawns sarcastically. "Besides, shouldn't we be getting hurt less? That's what the training's for, right?"

"There isn't enough training in the world to make bullets bounce off you, Gavin," Ryan promises in a flat tone. "It's more complicated than that, anyways." Sometimes it was necessary to get hurt during a mission; sometimes getting injured is better than the alternative.

"Weirdos in the lab said they're workin' on bulletproof jumpers," Gavin says offhandedly.

"Jumpers?" Ryan repeats.

"Yeah, ya know, jumpers," Gavin says again and mimes like he's pulling a shirt on over his head.

"Out of all the languages that I speak, I still have no idea what you're saying most of the time," Ryan murmurs with a shake of the head. Gavin makes a kissy face at him but doesn't offer much in the way of an argument. They move on.

"Where's Geoff anyways?" he questions. "Haven't seen 'im all day."

"Dunno," Ryan admits. "He was talking to Burnie and Gus earlier. Since Rwby has gone mysteriously mum, I'm assuming he's with them again."

"Hey, I was thinking about that earlier," Gavin intersects. "And I'm like absolutely positive I've met Burnie before. Like, very briefly."

"Possible," Ryan says. "I'm sure he gets around. Real wallflower when he wants to be."

"That's so bloody weird," Gavin groans as he rests his hands on the back of his head. "How long has he been stalking us exactly?"

"That's a good question," Ryan replies but he doesn't have a honest answer, either. A very long time, he's sure. He pushes the door to his room open and Gavin gladly flings himself onto the bed. Flynt pauses inside the door, however, looking up to Ryan curiously and he gives her a soft pet on the head. Apparently pleased with this, she hops up on the couch and makes herself comfortable.

Ryan perches himself on the edge of the bed, ruffling his hair in his hands lazily. For not having done anything today, he's already eager for bed. Almost immediately, Gavin is heavy on his back. He wraps his arms around Ryan's chest and rests his head in the nook of his shoulder.

"You smell like wet dog," Ryan murmurs. Not exactly a surprise considering he’s been sweating all day with Flynt.

"This place is nice and everything, but I feel like we spend less time together," Gavin says, palming Ryan's tits playfully. It’s an odd gesture but Ryan doesn’t say anything about it. Gavin can be very handsy when he wants to be, after all.

"What are you talking about? I saw you this morning," Ryan assures him. There definitely hasn’t been a lack of them seeing one another. "And everyday. Multiple times a day."

"Not us specifically, you dope," Gavin huffs. "Just like, all of us." There he has a point. Ryan would like to say that it's just because they've been busy with the stuff Rwby is having them do but there's no doubt Geoff is a factor in that, as well. They really are doing their best but when Geoff opens his mouth and says shit like ‘I’d love you more if you shut your mouth sometimes’. That being a tamer version of what he normally says.

"You're used to being in Los Santos," Ryan promises. "We didn't have a lot to do and crammed into a single apartment is all."

"I guess," Gavin murmurs. They’re still settling in; getting used to things.

"You'll be missing this the second all five of us have to stay in a one room motel again," Ryan jokes lightly.

"Six," Gavin corrects. "Ray's part of our team now, 'member?" How could he forget.

"From personal experience, I can assure you Ray is made of space saving technology. Folds up and fits right under the bed," he says, making a motion with both hands. Gavin gives him an odd, but amused, look.

"I don't think I want to know how you know that," he assures.

"Probably not," Ryan agrees. "Lots of insides being outside. Not Ray's, of course. Good times." Gavin laughs a little, leaning back and pulling Ryan down with him. With a bit of maneuvering, Ryan manages to get Gavin unattached and snugly underneath him. He kisses the lad's neck warmly until Gavin stops his squirming and quietly peters out.

"Seriously, you smell like wet dog. It's terrible," he murmurs against Gavin's skin.

"Here I am trying to seduce my boyfriend and you're being rude," Gavin huffs. Ryan pushes himself up enough to look down at him questioningly.

"Seduce me?" he repeats blandly. "Is that what you're doing?"

"Maybe," Gavin says and he reaches up to squeeze one of Ryan's breasts. Ryan looks at his hand momentarily.

"That's not sexy," he assures.

"Ladies like it," Gavin insists as he makes a 'honking' motion.

"I'm not actually sure you've ever touched a lady in your life," Ryan says.

"Would you shut up and make out with me already?" Gavin scoffs, wrapping his hands behind Ryan's head and pulling his hair.

"You take a shower first then we'll talk," Ryan promises and he pushes off to sit up again. Gavin follows suit, flinging himself upward in an exaggerated motion.

"Fiine," he draws out as he gets to his feet. "God, you're so high maintenance."

"If you wash behind your ears, maybe I'll even give you some hickies in the spots you like," Ryan teases. Gavin goes red to the ears. He's definitely the better seducer here, no doubt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> late update in the middle of the night while the site is having problems. sorry. happy birthday.   
> still like music? course you do. be sure to check out [raise your weapon by barameisteractual](http://8tracks.com/flossief/watch-me-fall-apart)


	11. You Know That

Ryan pretends like he doesn’t notice Ray is back. It’s not an act he’s very convincing at nor one that is particularly necessary. As Ray is technically part of their team anyways, Rwby alerts them to almost everything he’s doing. They knew when he flew out and they know when he’s returned. As far as they can tell, he wasn’t lying about visiting his parents. The idea still strikes Ryan as strange, if he’s honest. He had never asked Ray about his parents for the same reason he has never asked about anything else; it was none of his business. Ryan supposes it’s still none of his business.

With his datemates still insistent that he give Ray his room, it’s probably for the best that he pretends. He really does try his best, too, but that’s just never good enough, is it? All it takes is him leaving his room at an inopportune time to immediately fail the said and unsaid rules his datemates had made. This time it’s not even intentional. There’s a split second where Ryan considers making an attempt to return to his room, maybe pretend he’s forgotten something, but Ray catches him first.

“Hey, Ryan,” he says and Ryan stiffens up automatically. Having a one on one discussion with Ray sounds like literally the worst idea in the world. Actually, having a conversation with him at all lately hasn’t been going so hot. Ryan looks at him mutely, trying his best not to appear too concerned or afraid. Obviously this doesn’t work too well because Ray raises a brow at him curiously. Ryan’s been having a decent day and he’s not entirely sure how much he wants to suddenly feel awful again.

“Uh,” Ryan replies. “Hey Ray. I should go.” If he leaves immediately nothing bad can happen.

“Actually,” Ray murmurs. “I wanted to talk to you.” Something bad is happening. He gestures to Ryan’s room and Ryan glances back a bit. “Can I come in?” He’s dead. This is how it ends. Ray has decided he’s had enough and this is it. Ryan wishes he could say he is overreacting but with how Ray has been acting lately, this isn’t a far stretch.

“I suppose,” Ryan agrees halfly. Ray knows he’s uneasy but like always, like it has always been, Ray doesn’t do anything particular to make him think he’s wrong for being uneasy. Maybe that’s for the best. Ryan unlocks his door again and gestures Ray in with a small hand movement before following. Ray moves a bit slow, his leg still holding him back, but he looks better. Some of the colour has returned to his skin and his face doesn’t look nearly as sunken as it had been. He doesn’t look nearly as sick as he had been. It looks like that trip home had been good for him. Ryan’s glad.

Ray glances around the room, not focusing on anything particularly long, but clearly noticing how different things are. Ryan’s cleaned it up a bit but for the most part, he hasn’t moved anything and neither he nor his datemates spend a lot of time in here. It still feels weird to Ryan to be in his old room again. He brushes some cigarette butts off the coffee table and kicks them into the corner where the automated system sweeps them up for him.

“You wanted to talk about something?” Ryan reminds him and Ray looks at him again.

“Yeah,” Ray says and he rubs his arm distantly. The bandages that hide his wrist and the glove that hides his hand haven’t changed since he’s been gone. Michael says it was an accident but Ryan isn’t sure he believes that; at least not the way he said it. “Look Ryan, I know I’ve been acting weird lately. I’ve sorta, been a dick to you.”

“Uh,” is all Ryan manages out. That’s not entirely wrong.

“Not that you don’t deserve it,” Ray scoffs mildly. That sounds better. “But, I dunno,” he shrugs nervously. “I get it, man. Shit happens and you’re honestly trying to make up for it.” Ryan is rightfully suspicious. As much as this would be welcomed, it seems strange that Ray would change his tone like this so suddenly.

“Are you alright?” Ryan asks. “I mean, not that this isn’t nice but you’ve threatened to kill me within the last month.”

“Dude, I’ve threatened to kill you a lot,” Ray points out. Also not wrong. “I’ve just been under a lot of stress lately. Most of it because of you.”

“Yeah,” Ryan slowly says. “Sorry.”

“Being pissed off at you isn’t helping either of us it turns out so, you know, I guess I’m actually ready to try to work things out with you,” he says. “For real dude, I don’t know why you’re still trying to deal with me. I mean, I know you got a hardon for pain but fuck.” For whatever reason, Ryan is certain now isn’t the time to mention that’s probably because he still loves Ray. Of course, it may never again be the appropriate time for that. Back when they first met, Ray had gone through a lot of things for him; whether Ray knows that or not. Even now, Ryan isn’t ignorant to the fact that what Ray did in Los Santos was the best he could do of a bad situation. The lying and the deceiving, and the tricks; Ryan hates it but he knows better now why Ray did it. It’s only fair that Ryan can do the same for Ray.

“I’m just trying to make up for what happened,” Ryan assures, lying through his teeth the same way Ray does. The same was he used to. Sometimes that’s for the best.

“Alright, first of all, stop with that,” Ray says with a small shake of the head. “Seriously, dude, at this point our relationship is so fucked I have no idea where we stand. You fucked me, I fucked you, we fucked each other, not with our dicks- let’s just call it a clean slate, okay?” Ryan isn’t sure they can have a ‘clean slate’ anymore or, really, if they ever could. This entire situation is so bizarre. Ray had only been gone a little more than a week, what had happened in New York that made him decide to change his mind like this?

As much as Ryan would love to reconcile with Ray, he can only view this as suspicious. That being said, he can’t say that. He can’t say how uneasy this makes him or how unbelievable it is because if Ray is being honest, he’d look like more than just an asshole. Granted, Ryan knows he’s certainly allowed to be wary of Ray and his intentions by now but they have to start somewhere. Even if Ray is being dishonest, well, what worse can happen that hasn’t already? Even if Ray is lying to help himself, how can Ryan blame him?

“Ryan,” Ray repeats pointedly. Ryan crosses his arms mildly, a closed off signal. “This is like the umpteenth time I’ve seen to space out. You alright, man?”

“Mm,” Ryan agrees with a nod. “I’m fine. Just, I didn’t really expect you to, uh, be willing to forgive me so soon. Or ever.”

“I didn’t say forgive,” Ray says. That sounds better if just minutely. “Clean slate, not forgiving.” Of course it’s not. Forgetting is much easier.

“Right,” Ryan murmurs. “Okay. Clean slate.”

“Cool,” Ray nods a little and just a touch of a smile comes to his lips. It’s been awhile since Ryan’s been on the receiving end of one of those, let alone an honest looking one. “And uh, you know, sorry. For- you know it’d just be easier to make a list of the things I’m not sorry for at this point.” He laughs but it’s awkward and a little forced, like he doesn’t expect Ryan to think it’s funny; like he doesn’t think it’s funny but there’s no other way for him to say it but in humor.

“Me too,” Ryan promises. Ray shifts uncomfortably, maybe of the situation or maybe of his broken leg, before nodding his head toward the door.

“I’ll go,” he says. “Gotta get this cast off and check in and whatever." Ryan nods in agreement. He's glad Ray is looking better and if for a single second Ryan thought he was feeling better, he'd be glad about that, too. Right now all Ryan can do is trust that Ray is being sincere.

They wouldn't be in this mess if Ryan could trust Ray.

"Later," Ray murmurs faintly and Ryan just raises a mute hand as he leaves. This is so weird and yet, Ryan finds himself with a lingering sense of happiness. Even the slightest sliver of hope that he can still work things out with Ray is a nice welcome. The door opens again but this time, it's Michael letting himself in. He looks at Ryan a moment then gestures to the door pointedly.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure I just saw Ray walk out of here and you're somehow still alive," he says. Ryan isn't entirely sure how to articulate what has happened.

"Yeah," he replies. "Ray says he's ready to work things out." Perhaps the less said the better. Michael snorts a laugh.

"Oh yeah, he hasn't said that before," he scoffs. "What's this, like the third time? How long is it going to last this time?"

"He sounded serious," Ryan insists hopefully. Michael agreeing with Ryan's unsaid concerns definitely doesn't make him feel any better about this.

"Serious? Sure. I mean, he sounded serious the other times, too. Honest? I doubt it," Michael assures. "I doubt that kid has an honest bone left in his body." It's not that Ray is _dishonest_ \- okay, that's totally it. Ryan can't even lie to himself about that. They can't do this forever, right? This vicious cycle of distrust, anger, and pseudo forgiveness. Or maybe they can. Ryan hopes they can’t.

"It's not like I have a lot of choices," Ryan says. "What am I supposed to do? Say no?"

"True," Michael replies and he shrugs in vague agreement. "I'd rather have him faking it than keep having to see you two do this weird, passive aggressive dance." It's really not a dance at all. If Ryan had to compare it to anything, it's more akin to slamming his face against a brick wall repeatedly.

"We'll just have to see," Ryan insists. They could be waiting a long time to 'see' with Ray but there's nothing else to do.

"Come on, sap," Michael says and motions Ryan out the door with him in a flourished hand movement. "I told Gavin I'd walk his dumb dog for him while he's in the workshop." Gavin had admitted to being a bit nervous about the workshop but seeing Michael come back in one piece seemingly soothed that worry. He probably just didn't like the idea of being cut off from everyone for so long. It can be an odd sensation after being in such close and constant contact.

Ryan walks with Michael down to the K9 unit without complaint. He'd been on his way to watch the floor but he can do that any time. Jack's spending some time with Rwby, she's tending to him to the extent that he can be cared for, and Geoff is napping. Last time Ryan checked, anyways.

Michael seems to have been in a better mood lately, ever since finishing the workshop himself, and it's nice. By far, he seemed to be the most uneasy about being here so seeing him start to relax is relieving if nothing else. Ryan still isn’t so sure everything about this hasn’t been a terrible mistake. They were happy in Los Santos, weren’t they?

Even so, Geoff is getting better and Ryan can’t say that it’s a really a bad thing that he’s stopped drinking. Jack, strangely enough, seems to be taking to it more than the rest of them. As for the rest of them, they’re getting along.

“How are you doing?” Michael asks halfly, like a question he isn’t sure he even needs to ask. Ryan looks at him curiously.

“I’m fine,” he assures though honestly, he says it like it doesn’t really mean much. After all, nothing has really changes in the last week or so; Ryan’s still ridiculously stressed out and about ready to pull his hair out at any given moment. That’s normal. “Why do you ask?”

“What, I can’t be worried about my own boyfriend?” Michael scoffs. Ryan supposes that’s reasonable, sure, it just feels like odd timing. “You just seem out of it lately. Whatever.”

“Do I?” Ryan muses. “I feel fine.” While he doesn’t want to worry Michael at all, he can’t say that anything is really wrong. Though, of course, Ryan knows from experience that just because he feels fine doesn’t mean he is. Perhaps he should take this as a sign to get checked out before he starts not feeling fine.

“I’m just worried about you,” Michael insists again. “I know all this stuff’s sort of been getting to you lately. Maybe don’t stress yourself out so much, man?”

“Yeah,” Ryan agrees faintly. He can see how Michael would think that, he’s been given plenty of reason to. It’s not exactly wrong, either. Ryan’s pretty sure his hair is starting to fall out. “I’ll try to relax, okay?”

“Just don’t go all vagabond Ryan on us, yeah?” Michael asks with a mild scoff. Ryan laughs a little.

“I sincerely doubt that’ll happen,” he promises. That had been a lot more than stress and Ryan can guarantee that he won’t go back to being like that over something like this. He’s not sure if anything could make him like that again. No, Ryan is pretty happy with how he is now and he has no intentions of ever taking steps back.

Michael gives him an incredulous look.

\- x -

Gavin looks at Geoff curiously, rather unsure as to what to do now. He can’t be helped and the mission still needs to be completed. Geoff, technically, isn’t necessary to do that. While Gavin would love to be able to help him, and having to leave Geoff behind is rather unfortunate, he has to make a decision. He’ll die anyways, Gavin knows that already, so it’s pointless to try to help him.

“Gavin?” Jack questions over their mics. “What happened? Where are you?”

“Geoff died,” Gavin reports. Geoff, still urgently trying to hold on despite his grievous injuries, looks startled by this statement. He wouldn’t make it. It’s better to get it out of the way now, right? Instead of making everyone believe that he’ll magically pull through.

“What?” Jack replies, his voice already cracked. “What happened? Where are you? Are you okay?”

“He fell,” Gavin says simply. “We should finish our job. You’re next in charge, right? What do we do?”

“Where the fuck are you‽” Michael shouts at him. “What the fuck do you mean ‘he fell’‽”

“He fell,” Gavin repeats. There’s really nothing else to explain. “I still have the intel.”

“I-” Jack stutters. It becomes clear almost immediately how Jack isn’t going to be able to do this. While Jack has proved to be able to pull himself together eventually, he needs more time than this and they don’t exactly have that right now.

“Michael, you and Ryan should get to the roof,” Gavin instructs. “I’ll grab a chopper and come pick you up. We’ll grab Jack on the way.” If no one else is going to do anything, he’ll just do it himself. The sooner they can get this over with, the better.

“Ryan-” Jack rasps out before choking on his own grief.

“Ryan didn’t make it,” Michael states firmly, an attempt to remain strong where Jack can’t. Well that sucks. Now they aren’t going to have enough people for game night. They’re going to have to figure out another way to get into the safe, too; they’d been counting on Ryan being able to work the tumblers.

“I’ll meet you on the roof, then,” Gavin assures. “Grab Ryan’s kit, would you? One of us should be able to finagle the lock.”

“Gavin,” Jack murmurs, the disappointment evident in his voice.

“What’s your fucking problem‽” Michael snaps. “You’ve been like this ever since this job started! Are your screws finally coming loose!” Gavin just doesn’t see what the big deal is. He’s been here for days, the same thing over and over and over again. He makes a decision, they die, he doesn’t make a decision, they die. That’s just what happens. They’re all going to die, whether it’s here or somewhere else; now or later. It really doesn’t matter, does it?

“I just think we should finish what we came here for, Micoo!” Gavin insists. It’s not the first time they’ve died and it won’t be the last. Even if it were, what difference does it make? The world hasn’t stopped. There’s still things to do. Really, though, Gavin can’t believe his datemates would want him to waste time mourning, anyways. It’s not like he’ll ever forget them.

“Geoff is dead! Ryan is dead!” Michael shouts at him. “Who fucking cares about the job!”

“I do!” Gavin yips. “And I’ll do it myself if you’re not going to help me!” He can probably finish it up from here. That being said, he can’t actually interact with his environment so it’ll be interesting to see how that works out for him. There’s a static noise of what he can only assume is Michael yanking his earpiece out and then a shaky sigh by Jack. Neither of them speak to him again and the scenario comes to a sudden hault. Ah, lame. He actually wanted to see what was in that vault.

“Congratulations, Gavin,” Rwby says cheerily. “You’ve completed the desensitization workshop!”

“That’s it?” Gavin muses curiously. That didn’t seem all that difficult honestly. It was actually fairly boring and if nothing else, repetitive. He supposes Michael was right after all and he had nothing to worry about. In the end, it was actually rather fun. He’s learned some things he wouldn’t have otherwise and he feels, well, free if he’s being perfectly honest. There’s something about having finished this that just makes him feel as though nothing’s really holding him back anymore. The fear of failure, the fear of completion, the finality; he doesn’t feel it.

He feels unattached and light and- happy. He feels as he once did, long before Los Santos, long before SIS, before lots of things. Of course, the realisation of this is weird and Gavin immediately decides that he’s thinking about this way too much. It’s just been another workshop, same as any of the others he’s going to have to take. He’s being ridiculous.

“That’s it!” Rwby assures. “You did great, Gavin! You’re now officially ready for active duty! If you’ll exit the room, we’ll help you cool down and you’ll be free to return to your daily activity.” The door slides open suddenly and Gavin gladly hops up to exit the small room. Though it was sometimes easy to forget he was in such a small space the entire time, it’s still nice to be out of it and into the fresh, open air. As fresh as Republica air gets.

“That wasn’t bad,” Gavin comments proudly to himself. He’ll be glad to get back to his boyfriends, though. He understands why Michael came back in such a good mood, too. Republica isn’t so bad, after all.

“Not bad at all,” Rwby agrees.

\- x -

“Ryan,” Geoff calls to him. Ryan sighs heavily but overall, he doesn’t look away from his reading material. He can’t wait to see what this is about. In general, Geoff seems to be less aggressive if no one else is around so Ryan is hoping that being alone, minding his own business, will deter some of Geoff’s poor attitude. It’s rare as of lately that he intentionally seeks anyone out, though, so maybe this is about something. Ryan isn’t much in the mood for this; there is a lot on his mind.

“Yes Geoff,” he replies halfly and Geoff throws himself on the couch beside him. Ryan shifts himself away a little, his lesson not so soon forgotten. Hopefully this isn’t about Ray. He’s still trying to work his thoughts out himself, he doesn’t need Geoff’s overly possessive nature rearing its head. Even Geoff can’t make up his mind; constantly undecided on whether or not he wants to spite Ray or welcome him. That’s hardly any help to Ryan right now.

“‘m sorry,” Geoff says. Ryan puts his tablet down, already exhausted.

“What did you do?” he asks irritably. More important, why is it aimed at Ryan?

“For biting you,” Geoff murmurs as he leans to rest his head on Ryan’s shoulder.

“Geoff, if you bite me again I will pull your teeth out,” Ryan warns. Geoff nuzzles the side of his neck softly, placing little kisses on his skin where the scar is healing up nicely. It shouldn’t leave behind a mark but that’s only if Geoff doesn’t go Hannibal Lector on him again.

“I’m not,” Geoff assures with some air of disgruntledness. “I didn’t mean to bite you like that,” he says against his skin. Ryan makes a mild noise of disbelief. It sounds like Geoff wants something but he isn’t sure what it is yet. Usually he makes it well known what he wants but he also knows how to get what he wants making many situations tricky.

“I didn’t mean what I said,” Geoff insists and to his benefit, he does sound regretful. Of course, Ryan knows for a fact this isn’t true. He meant exactly what he said; that isn’t up for debate. Ryan certainly isn’t holding it against him, he was right, but fairly his tone and actions weren’t exactly welcomed or even remotely necessary. It was just a lack of impulse control, sure, but that doesn’t mean Ryan isn’t thoroughly annoyed about it.

“I know,” Ryan agrees simply as Geoff so lovingly kisses his neck. There’s no reason to antagonise him if he’s trying to honestly apologise.

“I love you,” he murmurs.

“Yeah, I know, Geoff,” Ryan promises. That was never up to question either. Geoff really is getting better and that’s nice to know. Before Ryan had been unsure, both of how Geoff would take to this and what Republica really wanted for him. In the end, he supposes he really has been too paranoid about everything. For good reason, obviously. They’re trying to lure him into a false sense of security and Ryan isn’t going to fall for that again.

“Thanks for putting up with me,” Geoff says quietly.

“Well, I can’t just leave my boyfriend duties because of a little biting,” Ryan says. “Otherwise we would have had a very short relationship.” Geoff’s bitten him much harder before. Not as hard as Michael has bitten him, but it’s not a competition and Ryan definitely doesn’t want to make it one for everyone’s benefit. “Just ask first next time, alright?”

“You’ll never stop being fucking weird, will you?” Geoff laughs a bit, flittering his fingers through Ryan’s hair. Ryan smiles.

“There you are Geoff,” Michael announces as he practically kicks the door down. Geoff and Ryan both peer over the back of the couch instinctively. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Rwby wouldn’t tell me where you were.”

“Weird,” Geoff comments without giving any reason as to why this might be. He surely knows.

“Gavin wants to do a session before Jack has to go into the workshop,” Michael informs. “Rwby says it’ll be quick.”

“Uggh,” Geoff groans dramatically. He doesn’t seem serious at any rate. That sounds kind of nice, actually and hopefully it’ll make Jack feel a little better about being disconnected from them for a while. Gavin came back alright, didn’t he? “Fine.”

\- x -

Not fine.

This is not fine.

Geoff tries to hold himself upright as best he can but it’s turning out to be rather difficult. He’s never worn heels this high before. Actually, he’s never worn heels. Lifts, maybe, but these are terrible, terrible death shoes. This was not what Geoff thought he would have to do when Michael said ‘quick session’. Gavin tries to cling to him for some support but honestly, this only makes it much more difficult for both of them. Michael won’t let go of the wall.

“Should you be doing this so soon after you’ve gotten your cast off, Ray?” Jack inquires curiously. For some reason, Jack seems to be perfectly fine, maintaining his balance effortlessly despite the massive height of his shoes and the sharpness of the heel. This is bullshit.

“I’m fine,” Ray assures with a shrug. Sure he’s fine, he does this regularly. This might as well be second nature to him. “My knee wasn’t that bad. It’s the ankles you gotta watch out for.”

“The braces should help,” Rwby promises. “But they aren’t miracles. Please take your time.”

“Can I take them off?” Michael scoffs irritably. “What the hell does this even prove?”

“Sometimes you have to disguise yourself for missions,” Ryan says. Though he’s obviously still getting into the groove of things, he doesn’t seem to be having any sort of problem remaining upright. While Geoff is absolutely sure Ryan’s done this before, he doubts Jack has. Why is Jack so good at this?

“It’s good practice for balance, as well!” Rwby agrees. “Becoming comfortable with this will help you learn tight ropes later!”

“Mostly it’s just funny as hell,” Ray laughs as he makes a showboating gesture of tap dancing. “Suicide heels are my favorite.”

“Ray likes to feel tall,” Ryan assures like it’s a secret of some sort.

“I’m like godzilla right now,” Ray says proudly. “I am literally godzilla.”

“It’s gonna be less funny when I come over there and kick your ass,” Michael puffs with some fein of irritation.

“Come at me, scrublord,” Ray replies and promptly pats his chest with both hands. “I’m fucking ripped.”

“This was supposed to be quick,” Geoff reminds them. This is not something he had ever had in mind when training was the word at hand. He can’t even fathom a situation, theoretical or otherwise, that would require him in seven inch stiletto heels. Maybe he’s not an expert, but he’s pretty sure he can pass a disguise off without them in nearly every situation.

“It is just a movement exercise,” Rwby promises. “Only fifteen to twenty minutes if you don’t break your ankles first.”

“Will that happen‽” Gavin yelps, taking the time to cling even harder to Geoff and therefore make it even harder for either of them to stand. Geoff tries to shove him off only to be met with the balance that his legs are not absolutely comfortable with.

“Get off me,” he snaps but this does little good. Gavin doesn’t appear to be able to stand on his own if he wanted to.

“Don’t be a knob, Geoff,” Gavin replies briskly. “I go down, we both go down.”

“Geoff, Gavin, Michael,” Rwby says. “Why don’t you start with some power walking perhaps?”

“Is there something easier than that?” Michael asks immediately. He doesn’t look like he’s going anywhere either.

“Uh, standing up would be a good start,” Rwby assures. “Let’s work on that.”

“That’s a lot to ask for,” Geoff grumbles. He’s sort of upright. He’d be more upright if Gavin wasn’t literally trying to pull him to the ground. Perhaps giving a kid that already has chicken legs to start with seven inch heels isn’t a genius plan. Geoff tries to shove him off again but Gavin is on there pretty firmly.

“Jack, how are you doing?” Rwby inquires. Jack glances down to his feet for a moment before carefully hopping from foot to foot. Once he’s sure he can do this without breaking his ass, he nods affirmatively.

“I think I got it,” he assures. “I can walk at least.”

“Excellent! Please take some warm up laps,” Rwby instructs. Honestly, with Jack being by far the heaviest and having the least amount of trouble with the least amount of experience, Geoff is calling bullshit. Jack is more than capable of this really incredible minor fete regardless. Michael makes a disgruntled noise from the wall he’s hugging as Jack walks past him.

“Are you ready for some practice then, Ryan and Ray?” Rwby asks.

“Just give me something,” Ray agrees urgently. With all the downtime he’s had, it’s not surprising that Ray is ready to jump into anything at a moment's notice despite his still recovering condition.

“I’m so ready,” Ryan confirms. Rwby dispenses an inflatable ball and immediately they both know what they need to do. They volley it back and forth between each other at first with some ease and then very quickly with growing competitiveness, never allowing it to touch the floor. Though Ray is definitely in a natural habitat, Ryan shows slightly more difficulty. There’s a certain fear in wearing heels much too high that Geoff can’t say he’s felt anywhere else.

When Gavin finally lets him go long enough to try to stand on his own, it becomes easier but not significantly. Geoff’s entire centre of balance is off now and it’s awkward to try to right himself without feeling like he’s going to tumble over. Michael gets himself upright with the help of the wall but won’t go much further than that, too unsteady to give up his life line. It’s probably not a bad idea to get used to standing with the help of a support first though. Once warmed up, Jack joins Ryan and Ray in their little game. He doesn’t possess the same balance as them but he manages to at least participate.

“I’d rather wear stilts,” Gavin complains as he’s spread out somehow less articulate than a baby giraffe learning to walk. Geoff feels like he’s getting the hang of this but honestly, he has nothing to base that one considering he’s yet to move from where he’s is.

“Why? So you can break your ass faster?” Geoff scoffs back.

“I don’t see you skipping off in a hurry, either,” Gavin assures. Geoff can’t really argue with that. Ryan laughs from the other side of the room and Geoff glances over irritably at the conversation he can’t hear. ‘Ready to work things out’, yeah right. As if anyone believes that for a second. Burnie said it himself, Ray will do anything to make his own ends meet and what happened in Los Santos proves that. How many times if Ryan going to fall for this same trick before he realises Ray doesn’t care about him anymore?

Hell, Ray can run his mouth all he wants, Geoff isn’t completely sure he ever cared for Ryan. Just because Geoff isn’t going to say that to Ryan’s face doesn’t mean he isn’t thinking it. Some things Ryan just has to figure out for himself and when he does they can go from there. Geoff isn’t against Ray, the kid’s had it bad and anything can be justified in the right light. What he’s against is Ray stringing Ryan along like a toy and twisting him up until he can’t tell his own head from his ass.

“Kinda nice seeing Ray in a better mood, huh?” Gavin offers, likely having seen Geoff’s disapproving look. As if Ray even has real emotions anymore.

“Whatever,” Geoff replies halfly. “I’m more worried about Jack, anyways.” There’s really no reason to make a fuss about anything now. They’ve been dealing with this, whether they knew it or not, ever since they met Ryan and it’s no question to Geoff that they will be dealing with it until they don’t know Ryan. Considering Geoff can not fathom a situation in which they wouldn’t know Ryan, that’s a very long time. Ryan and Ray are intertwined and that’s just something Geoff has learned to accept. Now if only they would accept it.

“Why are you worried about Jack?” Gavin asks curiously.

“‘Desensitization’ doesn’t exactly sound like something that’s going to treat sensitive little Jack well,” Geoff says. Michael had nearly taken the maximum amount of time Rwby suggested it would and despite him assuring that it wasn’t all that difficult, Geoff isn’t so sure Jack’s going to feel the same way. It certainly doesn’t feel like he should be attempting something like this while he’s in the midst of one of his seasonal episodes.

“Oh come on,” Gavin urges. “It wasn’t that bad. You go through some boring scenarios and then it’s over. It’ll probably do him some good, even.” He can’t be serious.

“You know Jack can’t handle a lot right now,” Geoff murmurs. “I doubt Jack is up to any kind of scenario Rwby’s dishing out.”

“He’ll be fine,” Gavin assures dismissively. Geoff isn’t sure where this new attitude has come from but he doesn’t like it. Sure, Gavin has been less than concerned about most things his entire life but he’s never shown such a disregard for Jack’s condition before. In fact, he’s certain Gavin had expressed this same concern before. Geoff isn’t quite naavie enough to assume this ‘workshop’ is really that easy.

“Mm,” he replies, an expression that doesn’t purely agree with Gavin. All he knows is that if something happens to any of his datemates, someone’s going to have hell to pay; starting with Burnie and working his way up. Jack and Ray laugh loudly and Geoff is immediately stricken with a twinge of annoyance. Surely no one actually believes Ray, right? Honestly, what would these idiots do without him.

With more irritation than determination, Geoff awkwardly struts over to join them.

“W-wait!” Gavin yelps. “Don’t leave me here!”

“Shut up, Gavin!” Michael barks. “You look like an inbred baby deer!”

“Michael, please do not take your anger out on Gavin.” 


	12. I Won't Let You

The each have their own strengths and weaknesses, sure, Geoff will accept that. What he won’t accept is how it took Michael almost a week to pass the workshop while Jack was out in just over twenty six hours. Not to insult Jack but he’s not exactly in the most prime of emotional states right now and on top of that, he’s not exactly their ace in the hole under normal circumstances either. As much as his datemates can insist that it wasn’t that big of a deal, Geoff doesn’t believe that for a second. _Everything_ around here is sort of a big fucking deal especially when it comes to workshops that are supposed to take up to eight days and can’t have any communication with the outside world during those days.

Geoff can’t voice this at all, Jack seems completely fine aside from some exhaustion, but he knows. There’s something different about Jack and it’s much more obvious than it is with Gavin and Michael. What annoys him the most is that none of them can tell him exactly what happened in there. Even Ryan and Ray who had to have taken it years ago, just shrug it off like it’s no big deal that they don’t remember. There’s no way Geoff is going in there. No fucking way. He knows Burnie and he knows Gus and he knows the kind of bullshit they try to get away with. He goes in there and the next thing he knows he’s waking up some kind of sleeper agent in the arctic. Not happening.

“I will admit,” Jack murmurs with an amused grin. “I was kind of worried about nothing.”

“I told you! It was fine!” Gavin promises. “Now Geoff just has to take it and we’re ready for the real deal. Everything’s falling right into place, innit?”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Ryan insists. “We still have a lot more safety training to do before we’re ready for any kind of mission outside of Republica’s safe bases.” Republica wouldn’t want to lose some of its ‘prime’ assets, after all. Geoff is starting to question what that even means anymore. It’s becoming more and more obvious that they are not ‘assets’ in the way a normal person would consider them. There’s no way Burnie put that much work into trying to corral them together just so they can act as some sort of half assed front man to the general public.

What exactly isn’t Burnie telling him?

“There’s still poison control, trauma center, emergency reaction training,” Ray lists between bites of his gross hot pocket. “And that’s on top of your specialty training.”

“It’ll probably be another month before Rwby lets us out on ‘real deal’s,” Ryan assures. Gavin scoffs loudly.

“She said we could start field work after the desensitization,” he reminds with a pout.

“That? Yeah,” Ray agrees. “That’s just bullshit stuff. Shit rookie police officers and mall cops do, you know. If you consider that the ‘real deal’, then sure.”

“As long as it gets us out of this fucking hamster cage,” Michael says loudly. “I’m gettin’ real sick of this place real fast. It’s like a fucking clean room all the time. I don’t know how you stand it.”

“I actually like it,” Jack confesses. “It’s- clean.” He gives a little, affectionate laugh. Of course he likes it, that means he doesn’t have anyone to clean up after. “But I see your point. I could use some fresh air, too.”

“You know there’s an outside, right?” Ray mentions off handedly. “Like, that gross thing beyond the windows?”

“It’s worse outside!” Gavin complains. “The air’s all salty all the time. I’m sick of that, too.”

“I am a little tired of the sea,” Ryan admits. “The one thing I couldn’t stand about this place to be honest.”

“‘One’?” Geoff repeats halfly.

“Hey, at least you weren’t here when the gyroscope went out of whack,” Ray says. “Whole place got hella fucking sea sick in a matter of hours.” Oh great, Geoff didn’t know that was a thing that could happen. Figures the giant floating building functions on one gyroscope keeping them upright. Makes him feel real good about the buoyancy of this thing.

“Oh what, a bunch of mercenaries can’t handle a little rocking?” Michael says sarcastically.

“Not when half of them are on drugs and the other half on meds,” Ray promises. “They had the whole place sedated for like a week.” Gavin rockets into an upright position suddenly.

“They can do that?” he asks, not sounding particularly worried or scared but eerily amazed.

“Of course,” Ryan agrees. “They have to have some way to subdue a bunch of deadly agents in case of an incident.” The only thing that annoys Geoff more than the fact that they’re all fine with that is that Ryan is suddenly in a much better mood now that Ray has come down from his bitch plateau. Sure it’s a little forced, like he’s trying to make sure Ray isn’t suspicious of him, but that’s besides the point. It’s like his whole crew has changed sides on him all of a sudden.

“Neat,” Gavin says cheerily. “I guess a place like this does need a contingency plan.” Jack glances at Geoff curiously, having finally noticed that he’s not all that into this conversation at all, and gives him an odd look.

“Are you alright, Geoff?” he asks.

“Yeah,” Geoff replies shortly.

“You’re not worried about the workshop are you?” Ryan inquires with a certain air of sympathy. “It’ll be fine.” Geoff doesn’t say anything. He’s not worried because he’s not going.

“I mean, Jack did do it in a day,” Ray murmurs. “And he’s like, the most sensitive.”

“Thank you?” Jack says, not entirely certain if that was intended to be an insult or not.

“Mm,” Geoff replies flatly. Jack rolls his eyes.

“Hey, Ryan,” Ray says, nodding his head at Ryan a bit. Geoff glances over his shoulder at them unhappily. “We should get going. I wanna finish our reassessment before noon.”

“Your what now?” Geoff asks irritably. No one told him about this. No one else seems to care, either. Surely he’s not the only one not utterly _thrilled_ to leave Ryan alone with Ray again for any amount of time.

“It’s just a reassessment, Geoff,” Ryan explains, no more informative than the last time. “It’s just to make sure we can still work together without any complications.” Geoff can see a lot of complications, he doesn’t need to take a fucking assessment of them to figure that out starting with the human Rube Goldberg machine Ray is and ending with Ryan being an emotional mess on a _good_ day.

“Like emotionally and mentally and shit,” Ray continues. “Rwby just wants to make sure we can still function after we’ve been apart so long.” ‘Apart for so long’ he says like they some sort of long lost lovers and not a circumstantial tragedy. There is no better definition of ‘star crossed lovers’ than Ryan and Ray. Geoff shakes his head mildly in agitation.

“It should be quick,” Ryan says as he grabs his tablet. “I’ll be back in a bit.” Ray’s already perched by the door, waiting for him to hurry along.

“Good luck,” Michael offers with a sarcastic little quip as they depart, more well meant than Geoff appreciates.

“The fuck you mean ‘good luck’?” he snaps shortly.

“It fucking means good fucking luck,” Michael answers with just as much venom. “God, what’d you shove up your ass this morning?”

“Geoff’s just jealous,” Jack assures. “You know he’s always been jealous of Ray when it comes to Ryan.”

“I’m not fucking jealous,” Geoff scoffs. “Especially of Ray.” He has better things to do with his time than that.

\- x -

“Can I, theoretically, push him out of the plane?”

As much as Ryan would love to be no where near Joel, he has business to take care of just like everyone else. Jeremy insists he has something that would ‘do wonders’ for Ryan and while sure, Ryan doesn’t believe this, Rwby assures him Jeremy has a very high success rating in almost everything he does. It’s worth a shot at least. The problem is, what defines ‘success’ is extremely variable. Ryan has no desire to stunt his basic functions for higher ones, even if only to finish a job. He’s spent far too much of his life doing that already and he isn’t looking to doing it again.

“Joel,” Jeremy replies. “A, there is like a seventy five percent chance he’d freeze up, not pull his parachute, and die. So no, you cannot just push him out of the plane. B, we can barely get Adam into a regular plane, there’s no way we can get him into a cargo plane with no doors and no pressurization.”

“Cargo planes don’t even fly as high as jets,” Joel argues. “We won’t be that high up.”

“Adam freaks out standing on three foot chair,” Jeremy reminds him. Joel is quiet for a moment.

“Okay,” he says blandly. “Well, _yeah_ , but I thought you got him over that fear anyways. Can’t you just, like, give him something to chill him out for not even an hour.”

“Well we did but you make him jump out of a plane and no amount of drugs in the world will stop him from re-learning why he’s afraid of heights,” Jeremy promises. “You’re just going to have to find another entry point or take another partner. Adam isn’t jumping out of a plane.”

“Theoretically,” Joel tries again.

“Let me rephrase that,” Jeremy insists. “If Adam jumps out of a plane he will die.”

“Right,” Joel says flatly. “Right.”

“Too bad you can’t take Ray,” Ryan comments off handedly. Joel looks at him and they exchange a look of passive-aggressiveness that neither of them would act upon so haphazardly. It’s a game now, who can aggravate the other into initiating physical conflict. Neither of them would really win but neither of them would really lose, either.

“Yeah, too bad,” Joel agrees. “I heard his ex manipulated him back into a partnership.”

“I’d be careful Joel,” Ryan murmurs. “You know what they say, loose lips get stitches.” They lock cold stares, each awaiting the other to strike out first. Jeremy shifts nervously.

“Oookay,” he says. “I'm uncomfortable. I gotta talk to Ryan so, uh Joel, why don't you, uh, leave. Please.” Joel shrugs simply like he wouldn't understand at all why Jeremy would be uncomfortable but he doesn't argue. Instead, he leaves quietly without so much as sparing another look at Ryan. They are adults and handling this like adults. Ryan gladly turns his attention to better things. A quick glance around proves the lab to be well empty and he peers down at Jeremy questioningly.

“Where's Matt?” he asks and internally braces himself for said scientist to suddenly pop out of somewhere.

“Oh, he's taking field samples with Trevor,” Jeremy assures. Ryan is actually a little surprised. Matt isn’t here and Jeremy isn’t with him?

“Did you two-?” he questions vaguely. Jeremy blinks. “Have a fight or something?”

“No?” Jeremy replies. “Look, just because they want to go out and take samples and I want to stay here and help Lindsay and Adam and Joel and Ray and- you know what, it doesn't matter. That's not what we're talking about. We were talking about- what were we talking about? Uhn, I'm so _ruffled_. I'm not. I'm not ruffled, I just seem that way.” Ooh, they're definitely fighting.

“You said you had something for me to try,” Ryan reminds him.

“Did I?” Jeremy murmurs thoughtfully. “Oh! Oh, right. I did.” Ryan isn’t sure how much he really trusts Jeremy on his own now that he thinks about it. He supposes it's a little late for that now. The little lad quickly rifles through some of his stuff before disappearing under a desk. After a moment he reappears from behind another desk and looks around curiously before scattering some more stuff around. Oh yeah, they definitely even each other out.

“Ah! Found it!” he announces gladly. Ryan definitely doesn't miss the ‘I think’ he mumbles under his breath as he pads back over with the pill bottle. Jeremy looks at it a moment, unlabeled and unmarked, before handing it to Ryan. “This should help.”

“Help with what?” Ryan asks blandly. He didn’t ask for help with anything and Jeremy already knows he's not up for another MK situation.

“With your,” Jeremy makes a weird gesture around his head with one hand. “You know.”

“Are you sure this isn't for Jack?” Ryan asks.

“Nah,” Jeremy assures. He pauses. “Uh,” is the minor correction. Then a repeated, “nah. No. Jack's just depressed and repressing a childhood of emotional neglect and gender identity issues. There's not a pill for that!” Jeremy squints a little. “ _Yet_.”

“How messed up are you right now, Jeremy?” Ryan insists.

“What?” he replies. “No. What? Listen, just take one of these with food and day. I've been testing them out, don't worry. They should, you know, even you out just a little. Not very much! Just help you manage a bit better.”

“I'm managing fine as it is,” Ryan scoffs. At least, he had been before everything started happening so much all the time again. He's getting a hold of things again, he just needs time and for everything to just chill for two seconds.

“Yeah,” Jeremy agrees quietly. “No. No no,” he shakes his head. “You're trying to self medicate again. Not a good idea. No. Doesn’t work for you. Works for other people sometimes. Not you. Bad idea. This is a good idea,” he taps the bottle in Ryan's hands. “Probably. We'll see. You signed a contract.”

“And if it isn't a good idea?” Ryan asks irritably. He's pretty okay with where he is emotionally right now and if this is going to make him worse, he doesn’t want to take that chance. Besides, his datemates really don't need that right now, either. He's finally getting Ray to maybe open up just a little bit again.

“Detox,” Jeremy assures with a grin. “So, nothing to lose! Just try it, I promise. It's not hard, I swear. I promise. Ninety, uuh, seven percent. I think it'll be good for you.” Ryan looks at the little pills in the glass bottle and rattles them around a little.

“Fine,” he agrees mildly. “I'll try them.” He guesses it couldn’t hurt that much. Republica has really come a long way since Ryan has been here. They'd probably actually catch the problem before it gets too far this time. Well, Ryan supposes that's only if they weren't intentionally trying to cause the problem. “Maybe work on something for Geoff since you're obviously bored down here.”

“Already got something for Geoff,” Jeremy insists. “Booze. Lots of booze. I wouldn't tell him that, though. I shouldn't have told you that. Don't tell anyone that and don't tell anyone I told you that please.”

“Uh huh,” Ryan says, unamused. Not that he didn't already have a good idea of that. He's going to go ahead and definitely not tell Geoff that, though. “Thanks Jeremy. I guess.”

“You're welcome!” Jeremy chirps back. As Ryan is leaving, he pauses.

“Uh, if you need some help down here or, I don’t know, someone to talk to while Matt is gone, you know where we are,” Ryan offers offhandedly. “Gavin is apparently a literal super genius. I'm sure he wouldn't screw up too bad.”

“Oh,” Jeremy murmurs. “Uh. Yeah. Thanks. That's- yeah!” He grins. What a strange little fellow.

\- x -

Michael spots Ray eating alone in the cafe and joins him somewhat arbitrarily. He hadn't exactly come looking for him but since he's here anyways, he might as well. Ray looks up at him tiredly but offers no real rebuttal to his company. Perhaps, no, Michael doesn’t really believe in Ray's ‘change of heart’ either but fake it till you make it, right? Besides, he really does look better. Michael still isn't sure what happened when he ‘went home’ but surely it couldn’t have been a bad thing. Maybe Michael was wrong or maybe Ray’s parents are different now.

“Ryan said your thing went well,” Michael comments as he rips off the paper around his sandwich. Ray gives him a skeptical, but perhaps a bit amused, look.

“Did he?” he replies.

“No,” Michael admits with a snort. “He said the chances of you randomly deciding to murder him in the field is ‘acceptably’ low.” Which he isn’t sure he likes the sound of but Ryan had obviously been relieved about it so that's close enough to things going well.

“Yeah, well,” Ray murmurs back, shrugging noncommittally.

“Just tell me it's not like _forty_ nine percent or something,” Michael urges. Ray laughs a little.

“It's like two percent,” he assures. “Barely any higher than it was before he- yeah. Whatever, you have like a point five percent chance of brutally murdering Ryan for no reason. Close enough.”

“So you're four-? times more likely to kill Ryan than I am?” Michael confirms pointedly.

“Well when you put it like that,” Ray murmurs.

“Hey, I'm datin’ him. That sounds reasonable enough to me,” he jokes. It definitely feels like there was a point in his life where he would have snapped at Ryan for anything and everything. Two percent seems like a good starting point. Ray just shrugs a bit, a faint grin on his face. He's trying, at least, Michael feels like he is. “So uh, I heard you had a sparring match.”

“Yeah,” Ray agrees. “With Tina.” But he already knows Michael knows that. Michael already knows a lot of stuff.

“How’d that go?” he asks a little more seriously.

“Good,” comes the unbothered answer. “We're a good match.”

“So uh, that gonna happen then?” Michael questions, pretending like he could care less whether or not Ray answers. Ray snorts a laugh.

“No,” he assures bluntly.

“Why not?” and Michael keeps pushing.

“Because I'm a fucking train wreck of volatile emotions ready to cave in on myself at any given moment for any reason?” Ray replies, stuffing another piece of bread into his mouth. Yeah, maybe Michael knew that too but he didn't think to apply it to this situation. “Not one's going to want to invest in a partnership with me until I get my shit together. I'm a huge liability.”

“Yeah,” Michael murmurs halfly. There's really no arguing with that. “Hey, at least you got us. Could be worse.”

“Oh yeah. I could have, I dunno, a super rare disease that causes me to never stop punching myself in the face,” Ray agrees. “Or dating Ryan again. I guess those are sorta the same thing.”

“To be fair,” Michael insists. “Ryan’s only punched me once and I did punch him first.”

“Uh huh,” Ray responds blandly. “So lovable. Much cute.”

\- x -

A small group training session should ease some of Geoff’s nerves before he has to go to his workshop, at least that's what Rwby suggests. Geoff doesn’t seem that nervous about it, really, but he also suspiciously has nothing to say every time anyone brings it up even remotely. The rest of them have already gotten it over with and they're all fine aren't they? If anything, Jack thinks Geoff is just being stubborn again. He just can't see that Roosterteeth really does have their best interest in mind. Even if that's only for the benefit of Roosterteeth.

“Dancing?” Michael scoffs loudly. “We have to dance now?”

“Dancing is a good way to train agility, strength, balance, and movement,” Rwby chirps gladly. “It also allows you to become accustomed to moving with your partners especially in a finite area!”

“Really?” Gavin questions unsurely. Admittedly, they've never done a lot of dancing as a group but what few times they have certainly didn't have a concept of being contained in a small area. In fact, quite the opposite. They almost knocked down a chandelier. Jack does miss that, though.

“Certainly!” Rwby promises. “Ray, Ryan, would you like to demonstration?” Ray glances at Ryan mildly, but his expression gives no suggestion as to whether he has any strong inclination either way. It's a safe bet that he would certainly rather not but surely he'd just say that. Ryan touches his mouth unsurely.

“I suppose,” he agrees after a moment. “If Ray's fine with that. It has been a while.”

“Man, you're not gonna drop me are you?” Ray sighs loudly. “I don't need another busted knee, alright?”

“I sincerely doubt that will happen,” Ryan answers as the two of them step away from the outer wall and to the middle of the room. “I’m just rusty is all.”

“And old,” Ray murmurs. “Like hella old.”

“I'm not old,” Ryan scoffs, dusting his hands with chalk and Ray does the same.

“Old and cranky,” Ray insists semi playfully as he takes place at one side and Ryan comes to face him a few feet away.

“You’ve met Geoff, right?” Ryan murmurs. Music begins and they bow politely to one another before beginning. Jack is, honestly, a little surprised. Right off the bat it’s obvious that this is ballet. He’s not sure why he’s surprised to find out that Ryan can ballet but it’s really cute. Actually, it also makes a lot of sense, too. Not that Ryan shows an extreme amount of grace at any point, but still the base seems to be there. That explains some of his ‘acrobatics’ in the field.

“Just because Geoff is older and crankier than you, doesn’t mean you’re not still both,” Ray promises, his form elegant and light. This makes much more sense. While Ryan is more heavy duty, Ray’s entire fighting style orients around him not having to use his own physical strength but instead to be able to dodge and duck with great ease. It makes a lot more sense why he just seemed so uncomfortable back in Los Santos; he’d so often been forced into small spaces far too close to people he really didn’t want to be that closed to. No wonder he’s uncomfortable always.

“I guess that still makes you young and reckless,” Ryan replies. He seems so much bigger now, his steps heavier and solid; predetermined. It’s an obvious contrast to Ray’s fluid movements, every one ready to adjust as necessary. They don’t touch each other, not at first, a delicate circling first of Ryan then of Ray; a slow start as they relearn one another’s movements.

“I guess,” Ray murmurs. “Better reckless than vapid.” Ryan seems to jolt a little at the insult. He glances over his shoulder questioningly at Ray, but neither of them move out of sync. They spin off in different directions and pirouette back towards each other. Ballet is such a difficult sport to do, requiring such an assortment of different skills, and yet it seems so effortless here. Then again, Jack supposes, many things around here seem to be that way.

“Vapid?” Ryan scoffs back, giving Ray an insulted look as they come face to face again and nearly stand on one another’s toes. Ray has to practically tilt his head back all the way to look up at him. “Better vapid than flegmatic.”

“I don’t even know what that means,” Ray assures blandly. Ryan takes a hold of him suddenly, dipping him completely to the floor as Ray arches his back and outstretches himself. With a quick movement, Ryan pulls him back up and tosses him directly up. Despite the sudden air, Ray is calm and collected; trusting Ryan completely to, in fact, catch him again. Ryan certainly doesn’t let him down, easily catching his waist and setting him back on his feet in an effortless motion. He spins him out and Ray whips to the side before being drawn back in.

“Unemotional,” Ryan explains when Ray is pulled back in and they’re pressed chest to chest. Ray glowers at him. They spin away from each other again, perhaps a little harsher this time, and for a moment, face away one another.

“I think he meant ‘phlegmatic’,” Geoff comments under his breath. That’s probably a safe bet. They turn inwards again and Ray begins a sharp, fast spin towards Ryan. All the same, Ryan simply steps towards him diligently and without waiver. He bows and when he comes back up, he brings Ray with him by the leg. With great strength, he lifts Ray straight up and allows the smaller lad to balance on his arm alone. Easily, Ray steps from his bicep to his shoulder and then to the other before Ryan's reaching for the floor and he slides off.

“Gosh,” Jack says softly. It’s certainly not straight ballet, that’s for sure. Everything Republica does has to be twice as reckless, doesn’t it? At least they look like they know what they're doing. Ray crosses back over and they stand back to back.

“Better ‘phlegmatic’ than hysterical,” he snorts back. They cross legs, then arms, before facing each other again.

“Callous,” Ryan spits irritably as he takes Ray’s arm and spins him like a dainty doll. When Ray stops, he lashes out hard, whipping his hand past Ryan’s face and barely missing striking him. Ryan just falls back, though, obviously part of the show.

“Parlous,” Ray snaps back and he falls back into Ryan’s arms loosely with a dramatic flourish. Ryan whips him out again and Ray circles him step by step.

“Insipid,” Ryan replies, following him with his eyes. The music becomes faster and so do they, exploding into a sudden chain of movements so akin to a fight, Jack isn’t sure it’s not. It’s actually rather difficult to tell if any of this is actually choreographed or if they just remember how to move so well together, it’s effortless to freestyle like this.

“Insecure,” Ray answers, meeting Ryan’s annoyed stare with just as much agitation. Though Ray, by far, ends up in the air more often, he is not the only one solely relying on Ryan. Especially knowing what Ray can do, it has to take a lot of trust from Ryan as well to set Ray up to potentially injure him dearly. A wrong move here would certainly be dangerous for both of them, whether because of retribution or simply failure of communication.

“Mercurial,” Ryan growls back.

“Pithy!” Ray snaps.

“Laconic!”

“Pathetic!”

As the music stops, so do they. They’ve come to stop face to face again, almost pressed together, with Ryan holding one of Ray’s hands upward and their other two hands drawn back as if prepared for an actual fight. This ‘joke’ might have gone a touch too far.

“Great!” Rwby compliments happily. “Excellent execution!” Neither of them move outright, irritably staring each other down. Right, well, they had been getting along. After a second or two, Ryan’s expression changes. He seems confused, searching Ray’s face suddenly. This, of course, makes Ray give him an equally confused, and just as annoyed, look. Ryan looks at the gloved hand he has gripped in his own like a vice. He adjusts to grab Ray’s wrist instead and reaches to remove his glove.

Ray reacts basically exactly how Jack figured he would react, by hitting Ryan solid in the face with the palm of his hand. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to deter him in the slightest. Instead, Ryan just grips him harder to prevent him from getting away and pulls his glove off. Ray responds by taking Ryan down hard. He lifts himself up using Ryan’s gip as a pivot and snaps his leg around Ryan’s neck. Between his momentum and their positioning, Ray has enough force to knock Ryan backward and subsequently to the ground. As soon as he’s free, he snatches his glove back and is quickly rushing past them out of the training room.

Ryan sits up again, a little dazed but mostly just confused. He looks at the blood on his hand.

“That was almost beautiful,” Michael assures. “You know, if you were supposed to look like you were trying to kill each other.”

“What happened, Ryan?” Jack asks curiously. It hadn’t been going _well_ before that, but at least they hadn’t been injuring each other up until Ryan decided to do that. Ryan gets to his feet in a bit of a hurry, suddenly rushing past them in a similar manner.

“I gotta go,” is all he says, offering no sort of explanation as to what he’s found so urgent to attend to. Jack glances at the others questioningly but none of them seem to have seen anything more, either.

“So are we done here or what?” Geoff asks blandly.

“Certainly not!” Rwby promises. “Now you can try!”

“There’s no way I can bloody do any of that,” Gavin insists. Oh, they’d definitely die trying to repeat any of that. Honestly, Jack isn’t even sure he knows half of what Ryan and Ray did. It was very quick and precise and wow there is no way.

“Obviously not,” Rwby agrees. “That takes much more training than any of you have had. Any dance will do!”

“Well, Geoff and I can waltz, I guess,” Jack offers. “Sorta.” They used to on special occasions. Usually the kind that ended with robbing safes and getting chased by cops. Waltzing turned out to be a lot harder with more people.

“I can swing, barely,” Michael snorts. “And only with these losers and Ryan.”

“Yeah,” Gavin nods. “Me too.”

“That’s a start!” Rwby assures. “Not a good start, but a start!”

“Does she seem meaner lately or is that just me?” Geoff asks, pointing absently towards the ceiling.

\- x -

Ryan sighs to himself as he wanders back into their room. Unsurprisingly, when Ray doesn’t want to be found he isn’t. Before, he hadn’t been sure if Ray was telling the truth when he told Michael he injured his hand on some broken glass. Now, however, that’s pretty obviously the case. The untruthful part was where they all assumed he had gotten it fixed and not that there was _still_ glass embedded in his hand and probably infected if what little look at it Ryan got was any indication. How long could it have been like that? More importantly, why hasn’t he gotten it fix already? No actually, more importantly why hasn’t someone _made_ him get it fixed yet. Surely Rwby, nor Blaine for that matter, would let it go this long without some sort of treatment.

“So I’ve been thinking,” Geoff says and Ryan looks at him halfly.

“Geoff,” he says flatly. “Aren’t you supposed to be in the workshop?”

“You’re a schizo, right?” he comments, ignoring the question outright. Ryan flinches a bit. Geoff had been doing so well lately, too. “So what, exactly, could they give you ‘accidentally’ for a ‘sleep’ problem that would possibly react in such a violent way that you, a perfectly rational and previously nonviolent man, would lash out and _murder_ multiple people? Last I checked, insomnia doesn’t typically get hard drugs thrown at it right off the bat.”

“Geoff,” Ryan sighs. “Where are the others?”

“What? I don’t fucking know,” Geoff replies blandly. “Sucking each other’s dicks I would assume.”

“Why _aren’t_ you in the workshop?” Ryan asks again. Geoff shrugs.

“I’m just saying, you said it yourself, you never would have ended up here if not for whatever meds they gave you for insomnia, right?” he says.

“I don’t want to talk about this,” Ryan tells him. This really isn’t a discussion he’s ever up to having and Geoff knows that. Geoff has always known that.

“So exactly how long did Republica, or Roosterteeth, have you in their sights, Ryan? And are they really malicious enough to put you in a situation desperate enough to _make_ you turn to them as your only salvation?” Geoff offers, less of a question and more as though a topic Ryan should ponder on. “Could they really offer you by far a perfect living, a perfect boyfriend, and then push you until you broke and yank it all away from you like some kind of toy? And could they really lure you back with the same trick?”

“I’m honestly confused right now. Are you trying to be an asshole again or- what?” Ryan asks in exasperation.

“I’m just thinking critically, Ryan,” Geoff insists with a shrug of his shoulders. “You should try it. What would Burnie really want with a ragtag team of dickwads like us? And why won’t he tell us?”

“You’re not that important, Geoff,” Ryan murmurs. Geoff almost seems taken aback by this and his face quickly turns sour. “ _We’re_ not that important. None of us are. See your problem is, you think we’re their ‘solution’ to a problem they don’t have. Republica, Roost Teeth especially, doesn’t _look_ for people to join them. That would be a tragedy.” Geoff doesn’t say anything. Whether or not Republica ‘helped’ him get here or not, Ryan doesn’t care anymore. So what if they did? So what if they didn’t? It’s not like he can go back and it’s not like he’d be better off. He has better things to do with his time than contemplate what ifs.

“I’m not taking the workshop,” Geoff says simply.

“Really?” Ryan arches a brow at him. “You know we can’t move forward as a team until you do, right?”

“I don’t need to be desensitized,” Geoff assures.

“Oh, we know,” Ryan scoffs under his breath. “Then it should be easy for you, Geoff. Just get it over with. I would like to see the mainland again some time this year.” Again, Geoff goes quiet. Ryan shakes his head and he wanders over to the sink to wash his hands and face. That was a hell of a workout for him and once again, he finds himself incredibly sore in its aftermath. Maybe he is getting old. He’s not as sore as he was when he first came back, his muscles gradually getting used to the extensive use again, but he’s ready for a nap at the very least. He really has to remember that Ray still needs room and still needs- basically everything except for whatever Ryan’s doing.

“I’m worried,” Geoff says quietly. Ryan glances at him a little and Geoff looks back shortly. “What? Shit’s scary. Three of my boyfriends went into that thing and came out different people.”

“They’re not different people,” Ryan insists. “I promise, they’re the same assholes they were when they went in and you will be too. Desensitization is just- it’ll be easy, Geoff, okay?”

“That’s part of the problem,” Geoff snaps. “Why is it that none of you can tell me exactly what goes on in there? That’s not normal.”

“For the same reason you don’t remember geometry class from high school, Geoff,” Ryan sighs. “It’s dull. You get the gist of things and then you zone out for several hours and call it a day.”

“Yeah? And that takes several days?” Geoff scoffs.

“If you don’t understand the materiel, yeah,” Ryan promises. “It’s okay if you’re worried.” He pats his face dry as he comes to join Geoff on the couch. “Look Geoff, I know you’re worried about all these changes you’re going through lately but I swear, we still love you. Regardless of the incredible douche canoe you are and will continue to be.”

“Douche canoe?” Geoff repeats incredulously.

“If anything, it’ll make you feel better. It made me feel better, it definitely made Jack feel better. I mean, what do you think? They’re gonna brainwash you or something? Trying it out won’t hurt anything,” Ryan assures and he settles a comforting hand on Geoff’s thigh. Geoff doesn’t look particularly convinced, but he does seem a little less uncertain than he was before. He’s going last so he’s just getting himself worked up over nothing. Ryan leans over to give him a small peck on the lips and Geoff scoffs at him a bit.

“Yeah yeah,” he grumbles. “I guess you sort of have a point.”

“If Jack and Gavin can do it, you can definitely do it,” Ryan promises with a small grin. Geoff gives him a slanted lip look but he sighs a bit and nods.

“Alright, alright,” he agrees. “Fine.” He pushes himself off the couch and ruffles his hair in his hand before beginning towards the door. “I’m gonna go talk to Burnie and Gus, though. I think we need to set some things straight. I’ll be back.”

“Mkay,” Ryan replies faintly, stretching himself out against the warm spot Geoff has left behind. “Don’t bully them too hard.” Geoff scoffs again. Ryan yawns as he tucks his arms across his chest and nestles himself comfortably into the plush couch. A quick nap and then he’ll find where the rest of his datemates have gotten off to. Hopefully by then Ray will have calmed down enough for them to talk about this and get him some help. It’s much too easy to nod off and to that, Ryan supposes he is glad. Maybe there is something to those pills Jeremy gave him after all.

Ryan only stirs again when he hears the door open and the less than quiet rustling that follows.

“I never want to dance again,” Gavin groans loudly.

“Guilty feet have got no rhythm?” Ray answers with amusement. He came with them? Ryan sits up slowly, peering over the back of the couch at them curiously.

“Gavin definitely doesn’t have rhythm, that’s for sure,” Michael agrees.

“I do to have rhythm!” Gavin insists. “You were the one off beat!” Jack shakes his head with a faint chuckle.

“There you are, Ryan,” he comments, petting Ryan’s head as he passes by. “Having a nap?”

“Yeah,” Ryan says with another soft yawn. “Where’s Geoff?” Jack looks puzzled.

“Geoff has begun his workshop!” Rwby informs cheerily.

“Oh,” Ryan murmurs. “That’s good.” It seems he was able to talk some sense into Geoff after all.

“Great!” Gavin chirps, tossing himself down beside Ryan and kicking his sore feet up into his lap. Michael and Ray settle on the loveseat while Jack browses through the fridge. “Once Geoff’s done, we can finally do something!”

“Dude, we haven’t stopped doing anything since we got here,” Michael assures him.

“Well yeah, but like actual somethings,” Gavin argues.

“‘Actual somethings’,” Ray repeats. “Sure, buddy. We can do that asap.”

“You know what I mean,” comes the grumpy little huff. Ryan leans himself over Gavin, resting his head atop the lad’s affectionately. He pouts.

\- x -

‘Oh, it’ll make you feel better, Geoff.’ Bullshit. There’s no way being cut off and trapped in a room for a week is going to make him feel better and there’s definitely no way Geoff is taking this workshop. Even if he has to chew Burnie’s ear off for the next hour, there’s no way in hell he’s going through with it. Burnie may be trying to avoid him but this place is only so big and Geoff has skills too. One of those skills is punching. Lots and lots of vaguely drunk punching.

Geoff climbs into an empty elevator and with some irritation, taps the wall until it does what he wants it to do. It just doesn’t have the same effect as mashing buttons. As if Ryan is in any position to be giving advice, or comfort, anyways. He doesn’t even have his own life together. He’d have trouble fighting with a wet paper bag right now. Besides, he’s been here too long, of course he’d side with them whether he knows that or not. Honestly, it seems like he’s losing complete control of his crew lately. Part of that is his fault, sure, but most of it certainly is not. He’s still the boss of his crew and Burnie’s going to understand that.

The elevator opens and Geoff peers around a bit before tapping at the wall again. Even the ‘high tech’ Rooster Teeth elevator doesn’t work right. He doesn’t even know what floor this is. There’s so many rooms and nooks and crannies to this place, it’s no wonder it’s so easy to avoid people. At the very least, Geoff can tell immediately Burnie isn’t here. The wall no longer responds to his touch no matter how many times or how hard he taps it and it only makes him more frustrated.

“Rwby,” he growls out. “Fix this, please.”

“It’s not broken,” she assures pleasantly. “Please step into the room to begin your desensitization.”

“My what?” Geoff replies sharply. “No. Absolutely not. Take me to the floor I asked. Now.”

“Please step into the room to begin your desensitization,” she repeats, her tone no different than before. Awesome. Great. The AI in charge of everything around here has now trapped him on the wrong floor. Why is he not surprised? He should have taken the stairs. Geoff backs away from the open doors and he very quickly discovers the elevator is no longer as big as it once was. The wall hits his back suddenly and Geoff jolts.

“We’re not doing this!” he snaps. “We’re not doing the whole killer robot thing! Let me out!”

“I have no intention of harming you, Geoff!” Rwby insists. Oh sure, that’s what she says. “Please just exit the elevator. You’re wasting time. There is nothing to be afraid of.” Geoff begs to differ when the back wall of the elevator is literally pushing him out.

“I’m going to be so mad if you don’t let me out of this thing!” Geoff yells. Of course no one’s going to hear him but it’s worth a shot, isn’t it?

“Oh, don’t be mad!” Rwby urges. “This is for your best interest! Natural emotions are bad for you! It’ll be much better if you don’t have them anymore! Don’t worry! You won’t even notice the difference!” The elevator all but disappears when the backwall comes flush with the frontside effectively living Geoff now in the white, round room he definitely doesn’t want to be in. There’s nothing around, nothing to hide behind or escape out of, just a solid, spooky white sphere. God Geoff hates this place.

“Alright, let’s begin!” Rwby chirps. “I’ve loaded some scenarios for you that I think will be the most effective. Please pay attention and we’ll have you out of here in no time!” The walls come to life suddenly and it disorients Geoff immediately. It feels like he’s been yanked out of one place and put in another and it’s not a great feeling. He takes a step away and the floor underneath him moves with him. That’s nauseating, isn’t it?

“What- what is this?” he questions though at this point, he isn’t expecting an assure. He’s far more startled when his crew seems to come to stand around him, just out of his reach in any direction. Jack looks at him curiously.

“Geoff? What’s wrong?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one's for going-caked u wu they are such a sweetie i can't believe it


	13. Fall

“Now, aren’t you glad you decided to go along with the workshop after all,” Jack insists as he comes to sit across from Geoff in the comfortable plane seats and hands him a bottle of water.

“Glad?” Geoff snorts back. “Glad it’s done with maybe. Glad to get out of that place.” Jack shrugs vaguely, at least partially agreeing with him. Unlike the rest of them, Jack doesn’t really mind the ‘too clean’ walls of Roosterteeth. In fact, he was probably enjoying himself not having to clean up after anyone. No matter how often they insisted they would, very rarely would anyone clean up after themselves the way Jack wanted them to. It’s unlikely that’s going to change.

“That’s just one more thing done before we get our freedom back,” Ryan assures but his point is rather bitter. There’s really no ‘freedom’ for them anymore, only what disguises itself as it. Even as far away as he was in Los Santos, they dragged him back kicking and screaming, didn’t they? Ryan supposes he’s over it now. He doesn’t have much of a choice after all and, perhaps a little, he’s realising it’s not all bad. After all, they’re supplied with the only two things a person really needs; time and money.

“Fucking, three long boring days I’ll never get back,” Geoff grumbles irritably. He’d take any reason to complain about it simply for the fact that he had argued so hard against it in the first place and sure enough, it turned out to not be a big deal. Ryan’s not really sure why he got so worked up over it in the first place. Maybe his paranoia is rubbing off on them. He glances towards the back of the small plane where Ray is napping in a chair on his own. It doesn’t look like he’s gotten his hand fixed but at this point, Ryan doesn’t want to ask about it, either.

“Oh boo fucking hoo you big baby,” Michael replies, rolling his eyes animatedly. “Maybe it wouldn’t have taken so long if you hadn’t taken so long to begin the fucking thing. We’re definitely never getting any of those days back.” The conversation, to at least some minimum, is humored. Regardless of how long Geoff took, it wasn’t exactly a waste of time for the rest of them. They all got ample training in for other areas in the meantime and are better off for it- or at least better prepared.

“Don’t you have a dick to suck or something?” Geoff insists. “Like, I dunno, mine?”

“Not with that attitude,” Michael scoffs back. Jack lets out a small, amused snort.

“Come on then,” Gavin says as he turns to Ryan suddenly. “What are we going to be doing?”

“Rwby explained everything to us,” Ryan reminds him with an arched brown.

“I was too excited to leave, I didn’t listen to a bloody thing she said,” he assures without any hint of guilt in his voice or on his face for that matter. Somehow, Ryan’s not surprised. He understands, though. People like them, people who have lived their entire lives on a large land mass with really nothing stopping them from going wherever they please whenever they please, are just less used to being in such a confined space as Roosterteeth. Even for only being there for a short time, they’re all ready for a breath of fresh air.

“It’s just some trial runs,” Ryan promises. “It probably won’t be anything big or even public. They just want to see how we work together in actual events so Rwby knows where we need to touch up.”

“Yeah yeah yeah,” Gavin urges on impatiently. “But what are we _doing_?” Ryan gives him an unamused look before looking down to his tablet to check, something Gavin could very easily do himself and for some reason won’t.

“Looks like our favorite; safe cracking,” Ryan murmurs.

“Right back to business,” Geoff says under his breath. “Of course.”

“It’s not going to be that easy,” Ryan laughs. What Roosterteeth is going to throw at them is not going to be anything even close to what they did in Los Santos. The difficulty of that was, in all honestly, incredibly easy. Admittedly, the kind of stuff they’re going to practice on isn’t all that likely of happening while they’re on actual jobs but it never hurts to be prepared. The chances that they’re going to have to avoid detection by tripwire, lasers, and angry guard dogs only to have to spend an hour picking a multi-tumbler, explosive proof safe all within a limited time is highly unlikely. It is pretty fun, though.

“As long as there’s less of a chance of getting shot by police, I’m fine with that,” Jack assures. There’s not. If it makes him feel better, though, they’re probably rubber rounds and will probably only break some bones. The bruises they leave are smaller than the paint rounds, though, and they’re less messy. Sometimes the bad just has to be taken with the good.

“So like, we’re just cracking a safe? Pretty sure we could do that back at the boathouse,” Gavin says, gesturing vaguely in the direction he thinks they came.

“Republica has a training town in Texas,” Ryan explains. “Functions more or less just like an actual town except, you know, everyone working there works for Republica and they’re all on very strict orders.”

“Don’t tell me,” Jack sighs. “Orders like shoot on sight?”

“Some of them,” Ryan admits. “Some of them will shoot you until you're ‘incapacitated’. They’re non lethal rounds but you’ll probably want to do yourself a favor and just go down.” He looks at Michael pointedly.

“What?” Michael snaps back. “I can take a ‘non lethal’ shot.” That’s exactly the problem.

“If they’re Republica agents, won’t they just damn obliterate us?” Gavin questions curiously. “I mean, they’re probably better trained than us.”

“Probably,” Ryan agrees. “There’s- rules. Think of it more like a game. Some of them can only move in certain directions, some of them are only allows to acknowledge things within a certain distance of them visually or audibly, some of them might even be given specific instructs as to how to react to us or how to react to what we do.”

“Damn,” Michael murmurs.

“Yeah,” Jack agrees in amazement. “That sounds a little-”

“Fucking weird?” Geoff offers.

“I was going to say ‘eerie’,” Jack assures him shortly.

“So it’s a scenario?” Gavin confirms.

“Exactly,” Ryan nods. “It’s going to be difficult but it’s usually fun. We won’t be setting any records, though, I’ll say that.”

“Records?” Jack inquires.

“Of course. Everything in Republica is about the score,” he assures. Even if that score amounts to absolutely nothing other than a number to show off to other people with numbers. “Usually you get scored based on things like time and effectiveness. The people working there obviously would have a bit of a problem knowing if a normal person would have spotted you or not so usually they don't score on things like that. Since Ray is a significantly higher rank than us and I’m a higher rank than you guys, I don’t think we’ll be able to aim for the lower ranked scores and there’s no way we’ll top the higher ranked ones.”

“We might surprise you,” Geoff says matter-of-factly. Ryan laughs. Well he’s right, Ryan would be surprised if they so much as got out the starting gate without a negative mark. As far as scoring goes, Ray is going to carry them no matter what, but Ryan isn’t sure even he could make up enough points for what the rest of them are going to lose especially when the averages come up.

“Hey, we might,” Jack agrees. “You never know.” What Ryan knows is they’d have a better chance at topping a high ranked score if they all sat around and punched themselves in the face for the entire trip. At least then they won’t get deducted points for basically anything else they’re going to do wrong and terrible.

“We should just focus on finishing our tasks I think,” Ryan assures. They'll have the rest of their lives to come back and try for a high score later. Besides, once everything kicks off they'll probably forget all about the score which is usually for the better. After an unwanted vacation to Roosterteeth, this little trip should be fun for them all.

As the plane rumbles, everyone glances around wearily. It's just a little turbulence, nothing to worry about. Even so, Michael and Gavin hurriedly decide to take their seats just in case. The rustling wakes Ray up, the lad jolting upright suddenly and looking startled if not panicked. Ryan watches him a moment as Ray urgently looks around to reassess where he is and what he's doing. Nightmares again? He checks himself, too, patting his chest and neck just to assure himself they're as he left them.

Though reassured, Ray doesn’t calm down much. He sinks back in his seat uneasily and presses his palms into his forehead before grooming them through his short hair. It's obvious how stressed out he really is. Ryan would love to calm him down but he feels he'd probably only add to the stress. Ray's coming around slowly but surely- or pretending to at least.

Ray glances up, immediately catching eyes with Ryan, and Ryan hurriedly finds something else to look at. Jack looks back at him irritably.

“Ryan?” he asks shortly.

“Huh?” Ryan replies. “What? I stopped listening.” Jack sighs.

“Yeah, no shit,” Geoff scoffs.

“I said,” Jack repeats tensely. “Are you sure she’s safe to fly?”

“Four Seven Niner?” Ryan murmurs. “Probably. Sheila was already a highly advanced flight system and we never had a crash with her. If this is her upgrade, I doubt we're going to see a problem.”

“Yeah,” Jack says with a nervous nod. “Sure. I'm just not sure how I feel about planes that fly themselves.”

“Oh don't be a baby,” Ryan assures. “The flying part is the easiest, anyways. We're not gonna fall out the sky or something. It's the landing part that they have trouble programming.”

“Beginning descent,” Four Seven Niner announces. Whoops. Jack turns to him sharply, giving him such an annoyed stare. Everyone else hurriedly tightens their buckles.

“You did that on purpose,” Jack insists.

“It'll be fine,” Ryan promises, tightening his own seat belt. “They say Four Seven Niner hasn’t had a crash yet in the field.”

“Yeah and that time she free fell thirty thousand feet straight down was totally intentional,” Ray murmurs as he walks past. Jack glares at the back of his head before averting it back to Ryan. He shrugs bemusedly.

“No crashes means that turned out well! What do you want me to say?” Ryan insists. Jack shakes his head as they settle in for their landing.

\- x -

“It feels good to be on solid land,” Michael groans happily as they take the short walk to their assignment building.

“It feels good not to breathe that clean air,” Geoff adds on and takes a large inhale. “Smell that? Dust and dirt and germs just the way air is supposed to be. None of that purified shit.”

“This place has some of the cleanest air in the world,” Ray comments. “They test mass purifiers and artificial CO2 absorbents here.” Geoff immediately deflates a little, scoffing mildly as his ‘natural air’ is taken out from under him.

“Sorry you can't constantly breath in a city of cigarette and exhaust pollution here, Geoff,” Ryan says jokingly. He actually likes this little town; it's better than Roosterteeth but also isn’t as ornery and short tempered as real cities. There was a time where he thought about taking a job here but there just wasn’t enough action for him. That and he had a problem following the guidelines they gave him.

“This is actually the place?” Gavin asks curiously as he does an inelegant little turn before making an approving face. “Looks like a real city.”

“Yep, this is Blood Gulch,” Ryan assures. “Home sweet away from home.”

“Bloody Gulch?” Geoff asks blandly, giving him an unamused look. “Who came up with that?”

“I don’t know?” Ryan replies bemusedly. He's never exactly taken the time out of his day to ponder a name like ‘Blood Gulch’ so he doesn't rightfully know. Geoff shakes his head a little, thoroughly unamused. “It's a fully functioning and completely self sufficient city. Only marginally less safe than RT itself.”

“How do you keep regular people out?” Jack questions. “Or do you?”

“It looks like a military base to everyone else. No one's allowed in without proper ‘credentials’ and people without them rarely take a second thought about it,” he assures. Other than that, there's really nothing keeping anyone out. Sometimes someone will sneak in for whatever reasons they may have but with everyone being a highly trained agent, it's usually taken care of immediately. Ryan gestures them into the little building and they all pad in curiously.

Like most Republica buildings, this one is outfitted with several screens displaying various information for only people who know what to do with that information. The arrival screen above the front desk lists their ‘team’ name, FAKE+, as well as a few others that Ryan isn’t familiar with. Another hosts an ever changing list of scores for the people already busy at work in the city. Ryan’s sure it’s mostly for aesthetics. None the less, it amuses the others if not for simply the fact that they don’t know what it’s for.

“Hey Ryan,” Ashley greets him with a smile. “Been awhile since I’ve seen you around here.”

“It’s a long story,” Ryan assures, a clear sign that he really doesn’t want to talk about it. She grins at him knowingly.

“I’m sure,” she agrees. No, Ryan never really thought his business could stay his business considering the business he’s in. He’s sure Joel has run his mouth off a fair amount about Ray’s ‘evil ex’. “Well, we got everything set up for you guys. I’m afraid our deluxe sized apartment isn’t up for your stay though like you requested.”

“Someone else here?” Ray questions, almost hopefully. Ryan glances at him a bit but doesn’t think about it too much. He knows there are lots of people that work for Republica that Ray actually has _good_ interactions with. In fact, there are even people in Roosterteeth he has good interactions with; Ryan has seen that first hand. It's true, after all, Ray really is a friendly person when he’s shown friendliness.

“No,” Ashley says with a laugh. “They _were_ here. We still can’t get the smell out of that apartment.”

“Gross,” Geoff murmurs.

“We set you up in two couple’s suites with guest bedrooms,” she explains. “You’re free to move the furniture around as you see fit so don’t worry about it.” They’re not exactly attached at the hip but even with that said, Ryan really hopes to be able to sleep in the same bed as his boyfriends fairly soon. The beds at RT are big but not nearly big enough for them to all be comfortable in with their various sleep styles. Really though, he just misses their bed back in Los Santos.

“And these are for you,” Ashley continues as she sets six small, sleek, black boxes across the counter. Each of them are pressed with their names; not permanent but still hard to remove. Ryan picks his up and taking this as a sign that it’s safe, the others gladly reach for their own as well. Ray pops his open and removes the contents before handing the empty box back.

“What is this stuff?” Jack asks, examining the little items curiously.

“Just the basics,” Ashley replies. “Keys to your apartments, keys to your vehicle, temporary cell phone, credit card, and the default safe combination.”

“Vehicle?” Michael says unsurely.

“Credit card?” Geoff asks instead.

“The city is pretty big,” Ashley assures. “You’ll need to get around. We try to rent everyone their preferred vehicle but that's not always possible so try to make do. Really, you’re lucky your car’s still here, Ryan. Usually we let other people start renting them out if you’re on ‘vacation’ too long.” Ryan offers her a mute smile. It’s not even like it’s actually his car. Needless to say, that was by far the least of his concerns upon going on ‘vacation’.

“The ‘credit’ card helps keep track of your values,” she explains. “Food, water, and housing are all provided free here for the most part. Specialty items like booze, drugs, ect, you’ll have to get yourself.”

“With the credit card you give us?” Gavin says.

“It’s not cash,” Ashley replies. “Around here, it’s a barter system. You do things for people and they do things for you; you get things for people and they get things for you. This card helps keep track, makes sure people can’t conveniently ‘forget’. Just slide it through yours or someone else’s phone to load or charge it.”

“Like quests,” Michael says amusedly. Ryan wasn’t joking when he made the comparison to a game. It’s what RT was formed on and it’s what works for them and many of the people working for them. It makes things fun and takes advantage of their natural competitiveness. Besides, it’s a lot easier for many of the kinds of people that Republica employs to pretend it’s a game and that people are npcs. Some of them see it that way anyways.

“Sorta,” Ashley smiles. “Since you’re new at this, let me go over your objective.”

“Is there a skip button on you?” Geoff asks mildly. Ashley looks at him then back to Ryan as if Ryan has any control over Geoff’s mouth. She reaches under the counter and sets a particularly large looking taser on it with a smile. Jack laughs nervously, pushing Geoff away from her and hopefully the conversation.

“He was joking,” Jack assures. “Not that I have anything against Geoff getting tased but please continue.” Ashley gladly removes the taser from sight.

“As an intro course, we’ll be testing various different skills in rapid succession,” Ashley begins. “Within the course of the next month, you must find the safe you’re to break into, get to where it is, break into it, recover the goods, lose pursuers if you have any, and return to your homes. We’ll only be telling you what you’re looking for as the rest is up to you and your skills to find it however you wish to do that.” She brings up a symbol on the screen behind her.

“This will be on the safe,” she says simply.

“That’s it?” Gavin insists. Ashley nods. “Bloody hell, you said this was a big city. How are we supposed to find that one symbol?”

“Good question,” she says. “Anyways, I’ll tell you that since this is your first time, it’s going to be very well guarded. As long as you use your head, nothing should be deadly to you. If you get injured, you can request hospital care at the cost of points off your score. If you allow yourself to become _too_ injured, then you’ll be pulled from the city and barred from entrance until your next game.”

“That’s pretty intense,” Michael murmurs. “And complicated.”

“Oh totally. It’s so cool,” Ashley hums happily. “The city is divided between two groups, reds and blues.” Geoff physically puts his head in his hand. “Aiding them with their problems will help you in multiple ways depending on how you want to help them. Or they might fuck you over! They’re all far more skilled than you so try not to hurt yourselves.”

“A good thing to keep in mind,” Ray agrees under his breath. They’ve had their fair share of rage induced, poorly thought out lashings. Much like NPCs in actual video games, when one just so happens to be a deterrent to progress, they get attacked without a second thought. Also much like NPCs in actual video games, they’re likely to attack back and for whatever bizarre reason tend to be way more powerful than necessary.

“Finally, you should wear these,” Ashley says and she sets a box of six small, square like objects on the counter.

“You’re- tracking us?” Jack asks unsurely.

“Surprise surprise,” Geoff grumbles.

“Sorta,” Ashley replies. “We don’t care where you specifically are or what you’re doing. Think of them more like random event activators. Certain things are triggered in some areas which do so by you being near it. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes- weird. You’re certainly not required to wear them but you’d likely be putting yourself at a disadvantage. Some mandatory events can only be triggered by knowing your approximate location and therefore you wouldn’t be able to move on otherwise.”

“Cool,” Gavin says in quiet awe as they all take one. Ray tucks it under his beanie and Ryan clips it onto the inside of his jacket. The others don’t seem all that clear what to do with them. Gavin eventually just uses the wristband to strap it to his wrist and Jack decides this is a rare good idea. Geoff shoves his in his pocket and Michael clips his to his belt loops. It’s not that big a deal if they end up leaving them behind somewhere once or twice, especially since this is a team exercise, but they already need to be getting into the habit of keeping ‘essentials’ on them. That’s never been something they’ve been particularly good at.

“That’s it!” Ashley grins. “Or at least what I’m going to tell you. You’ll figure the rest out on your own! Goodbye!”

“What about-” Geoff begins.

“I said, goodbye!” Ashley repeats with a smile. She is, after all, part of this town and as such, she is restricted to specific things just like everyone else; another npc. Geoff looks at Ryan halfly but he offers no verbal complaint yet- possibly due to the very real threat of being tasered for any reason whatsoever.

As they pile back out of the building, they all take a moment to examine and familiarize themselves with their new gear. Ryan could almost make the mistake of saying they’re not going to need six different vehicles but he has to remember who he’s talking about and that they’re going to collectively crashed at the very least three of them. In fact, now that he thinks about it, Ryan goes ahead and takes the car key right out of Gavin’s hand.

“No,” he says simply and Gavin frowns a little.

“I know how to bloody-” Gavin starts.

“No you don’t,” Jack deadpans back.

“In England-!” Gavin insists.

“Fuck no,” Geoff assures. Gavin finally gives in for the time being. It’s really just better safe than sorry at this point. He knows how to drive, sure, he doesn’t know how to drive _well_ which is the problem.

“Let’s just get to our temps,” Ray suggests. “I’m hungreh.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Ryan agrees. “The sooner we start getting to work, the better.”

“Where do we even start?” Michael questions as he takes a look over the unfamiliar, looming city that stretches across the distance. It’s smaller than Los Santos though for that, Ryan can’t say much. It’s also denser and more concentrate. In Los Santos, they could drive for miles in any direction and not reach anything. Here they’ll be lucky to get two feet without stumbling into something. It’s both a good thing for the sake of time management and a bad thing for escaping the ‘cops’. Even more so if they’re not careful, the citizens will absolutely rat them out.

“At our temps,” Ray repeats. “Where there’s food.” He’s not about to be distracted from something to eat obviously. Ryan could go for a bite anyways, he’s sure they all could after the lengthy trip here. Being back on solid land always seems to boost the appetite a bit.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Jack agrees. “I’m not sure how much I like being out in the open here.” They honestly have nothing to worry about yet, the action isn’t going to start until they start it, but it’s still a new town and they’ll all want to do a little scoping out first.

“The further away from the director’s wife, the better I feel,” Ryan murmurs simply.

“The who’s what?” Geoff repeats. “Her? Actually, more importantly, _him_?”

“Yes?” Ryan murmurs unsurely as they follow Ray in a group. They just kind of assume he knows where he’s going and that very well might not be the case at all but no one else knows either.

“Oh,” Geoff laughs. “Guess who’s getting so much shit when I get back. I can’t believe Burnie got married.”

“Twice, if I recall correctly,” Ryan says. As much as he’d love for Geoff to stay at least half a globe away from Burnie, that’s obviously not going to happen. They’re ‘friends’ or whatever the hell they call it and hopefully that won’t come around to bite them in the ass.

“Twice?” Geoff repeats, holding back a snort of a laugh. “You gonna tell me Gus is married too now? Dude looks like- a melted stick of butter.”

“I believe he’s also married,” Ryan murmurs. As close to married as they get in Republica at least. Admittedly, it’s probably not much different than Geoff and Griffon’s marriage minus the whole six other boyfriends things. Maybe. Ryan doesn’t dedicate a lot of time to prying into the private lives the the people who run RT. Geoff stops just to laugh, finding this absolutely hilarious for some reason.

“And they gave _me_ shit? _Oh_ , they’re gonna get it.”

“I can’t wait until someone else kicks Geoff’s ass one day,” Ray murmurs. “It’s gonna be so fuckin’ funny.”

\- x -

Is his bag moving? Ryan stares at it for a moment unsurely. He’s pretty sure he didn’t pack anything that moves. A quick glance around proves that no one else has noticed yet which can be taken a couple of ways. Cautiously, Ryan unzips the bag. Jeremy pops out, gasping for breath. Jack and Geoff both let out a startled gasp from another part of the room.

“Oh god! Oh. Ha. It was hot in there,” he says as he pants. He ruffles his hair a little then proceeds to grin at Ryan fondly.

“Where’s my stuff, Jeremy?” Ryan demands sourly. Jeremy shrugs like that’s not his problem or his concern. Which it wouldn’t be if he hadn’t come here in Ryan’s fucking bag. “What the fuck were you doing in my duffle bag? How did you even-? You know what, nevermind.”

“Rwby suggested I come along to help maintain an equilibrium among your team's knacky ability to suffer from multiple health problems both physically, mentally, and emotionally,” he explains.

“We took a plane here Jeremy!” Ryan snaps at him. “You didn’t have to sneak into my bag!”

“Oh,” Jeremy says. “Yeah. I didn’t think about that. What was I thinking about? I don’t remember. Hey is there food here, I’m starving.”

“Why are you such a weird dude?” Michael asks.

“Did you know your brain, specifically, shows signs of such extreme ADHD that I have absolutely no idea how you function?” Jeremy offers. “Can I take more scans of your brain?”

“Are you sure that’s not you?” Geoff questions pointedly.

“Pretty sure,” Jeremy replies. “My short, long, and medium term memories are just the worst kind of mess. My attention span is fine, though! Mostly.”

“You get anywhere near my brain and I’ll show you yours,” Michael sneers. Jeremy blinks curiously before looking at Ryan again.

“He’s threatening to crack your skull open, Jeremy,” Ryan assures.

“I got that,” Jeremy agrees. “I deliberately chose not to aggravate him further. He is also very strong for also reasons I do not understand.” They just sort of watch as he hops out of Ryan’s duffle bag, brushes himself off, and then leaves the apartment without another word. That was so weird and unnecessary. Is this what he gets for being nice to people? Ryan turns his bag upside down hopefully but it’s completely empty now. Well, apparently he’s going to be wearing the same clothes for a couple days.

“You can borrow some of our stuff,” Jack assures with a small, pity smile.

“Thank you Jack,” Ryan murmurs. What a weird problem to have.

\- x -

Just like in games, doing arbitrary tasks for a multitude of people is somewhat tedious and not entirely fun. However, also much like in games, where those tasks need to be done and what is earned for doing them makes it a task work completing. When it was just himself and Ray, often times they would forgo doing side tasks and simply power through what they needed to get done. With seven of them however, it is startling how easy it is to massively complete side objectives without a problem. The downside to this is it’s still time consuming and they don’t always get what they need but the upside is, they won’t be going into the tasks blind.

More importantly, it also means they’re getting a lot of gear. Some of it is useless to them, of course, but most of it really isn’t. It’s a lot of stuff that’ll make it way easier to get past whatever their main objective is going to throw at them. After all, the difficulty of this isn’t supposed to come from being under prepared. In fact, Ryan’s not sure it’s intended to be difficult at all; it’s information taking above all else. If they can’t complete the first task due to the sheer difficulty of it, Rwby will have learned nothing. If they can’t complete the first task because they’re fucking morons, that’s another story.

Ryan is finding these little jaunts about fun at least. It’s nice to stretch his legs and not be in the closed in walkways of RT for a little while. Nothing about Blood Gulch has changed much since the last time he’s been here, all the buildings are kept exactly the way they’re intended to look and most of the people, though different, retain the same personalities and traits. It would be bizarre if Ryan was anyone else.

Jack heads into a little flower shop just around the corner where they’re staying and the Red lady behind the counter smiles brightly at the pair of them.

“Oh you found them,” she hums happily as Jack hands over the bouquet of flowers. “Thank you!”

“We’re happy to help,” Jack assures with a little smile of his own. That, at least, is true. Jack seems to be flourishing with all these ‘help people who can obviously do these things themselves’ things. In fact, he seems to just be happy interacting with semi-normal people despite the fact he _knows_ they’re only acting. Jack does seem different lately, though. He seems to finally be settling in.

“I can finally poison that dirty Blue that moved in next door,” the lady says as she settles the flowers in a vase behind her. Jack stop smiling. “Here, take this.” She hands them card with a QR code on it and grins broadly. “Don’t know what it’s much about myself but you look like you could use it. Oh! And if you ever need any drugs, just let me know! I’d be happy to supply!”

“Thanks,” Jack says slowly. That’s probably not what he expected to get out of this. She’ll supply them with recreational stuff and ‘permanent’ sleep tranqs as long as they bring her flowers but since they’re objective is safe cracking, this isn’t very helpful to them. They’re much more interested in the information she’s given. People around here aren’t supposed to actually die but they can be taken out of their game. Since multiple teams of agents can using the city at once, they act independently. From here on out, they won’t be able to get anything from the Blue florist and they would be, technically, dead.

As they leave, Ryan slides the card into his phone both transferring the information and adding her ‘aid’ to their combined arsenal. Between the six of them, they’ve gathered up several pieces of the map which gives much more information than what they can scout out themselves. This piece stitches itself to what they already have automatically and reveals a thicker part of the inner city. Ryan gives it a once over for anything useful.

“What is that?” Jack questions curiously, tapping on his own phone and bring up a curious spot to Ryan’s attention. That’s a good question actually. It doesn’t go along with any of the nearby buildings at all. In fact, it looks like it’s hiding something.

“We should go check it out,” Ryan replies, tucking his phone into his pocket. “It might be the safe.”

“Really?” Jack asks sarcastically. “They’re putting the safe we need to get into out in the open?”

“Maybe,” Ryan agrees with a grin. Stranger things have happened. Obviously Jack doesn’t believe this. Ryan doesn’t either but it could technically happen. It doesn’t hurt to check it out regardless and it’s not far from here. Since the others are still getting their land legs back, unless something is way too far, they’ve taken to the habit of walking before driving. The closeness of some of the buildings make it too easy not to.

“They don’t, uh, really kill each other around here, right?” Jack asks as she start their little walk over.

“No,” Ryan assures. “Same as before, Republica really doesn’t like to kill their agents.” Perhaps it’s really Ryan’s fault for giving them the idea that Republica itself was the dangerous aspect of things. The deadly part came from quitting, sure, and from reckless endangerment because after so much time with a business like this, people start to lose sight of what their limitations are and how to weigh risk. That’s hardly an accident he’s sure.

“Uh huh,” Jack replies with clear disbelief. “For everyone’s benefit, I hope you’re right.” Ryan hopes he’s right, too. He has been away for a while. Things change. He knows that all too well. The short walk to their target doesn’t reveal anything unusual around the area. None the less, they’re very cautious not to trip any traps or dumbly wander into one. Ryan gestures Jack to stay a safe distance back to both watch his back and assure they both don’t get injured while he approaches the large, square shaped building.

It’s not exactly what they’re looking for but by the symbol marked on the front, it’s one of their objectives. While there’s no required objectives aside from freeing the safe from its goods, this is definitely going to help them. If they can kick start the chain of information, they can find the safe far quicker than hoping that one of the people they’re helping has it or by simply putting it together by themselves. This should be more than enough; whatever’s in it. As Ryan goes to open it however, he discovers the pressure switch on the inside of the door fortunately before he triggers it. That’s not good.

“It’s rigged,” Ryan calls and Jack peers over curiously but maintains his distance. “The whole thing’ll go up if we open it.”

“I’ll call the others,” Jack says with a nod. Ryan circles the container to find a way in preferably without blowing himself up. The mechanism isn’t on the outside, he didn’t exactly expect it to be, and it doesn’t look like the walls are going to come down easy, either. If not for the sheer amount of explosive probably packed into this thing and the fact that they could seriously use whatever’s inside, he’d probably try to disarm it himself. He’s too rusty to want to risk it.

“They’re on their way,” Jack informs as he approaches as well, carefully. “They’re all near by.” Ryan nods agreeably. It’ll be wiser to just have Ray do it and call it a day. There’s nothing wrong with getting a more competent team member to do what they’re good at.

“At least we’re on the right track,” Ryan murmurs.

“What’s in there?” Jack asks curiously.

“Not sure yet. If we’re lucky, some serious intel about what we’re doing,” he assures. “Maybe some gear to help deal with that stuff.”

“So it’s like a drop?” he asks with clear concern.

“No one’s going to attack us,” Ryan promises. “Probably.”

“An Xbox isn’t a person, Ray!” Gavin insists loudly as he and Ray join them. “What does turning it off do that putting it to sleep doesn’t?”

“Turn it off!” Ray shouts back. “That’s what it does!” Jack rolls his eyes. At least they’re getting along. Ray shakes his head irritably, rubbing his temple in his hand.

“Putting it to sleep is the same thing!” Gavin urges.

“No it’s not!” he snaps. “If it’s the same, why is your Xbox a piece of shit!”

“I don’t know! Lots of reasons!” Gavin assures. “Turning it off wouldn’t make a difference!”

“Not now it wouldn’t!” Ray barks back. Obviously they’ve been at this a while. Gavin likes to hear himself too much and Ray likes his video games too much for them not to have been.

“Could you two stop for a second and give us a hand here?” Jack says scathingly, giving Gavin a look that says they’ve had this discussion before. Ray moves past them without being prompted to, just ready to get out of this conversation. Ryan can’t fault him for that, really.

“It’s a pressure trigger,” Ryan explains as Ray takes a gander for himself. “One of us could just hold it down while we grab the goods.”

“I like not being exploded, thanks,” Ray assures. That’s fair. Ray has himself a sit on the ground while he cracks the door open just enough to get his arm in and begin working on disengaging the trigger. Ryan gestures Jack and Gavin to back up to give him some room to work but also to hopefully keep Gavin from running his mouth anymore. Not that it works.

“All I’m saying is there’s nothing in an Xbox that shouldn’t be fine from being on all the time,” he urges again. “It’s a computer!”

“Do you leave your computer on all the time, Gavin?” Ray asks sharply.

“Well no,” Gavin murmurs. “It’d probably overheat.”

“Then why leave your Xbox on!” Ray snaps.

“My Xbox doesn’t have thousands of dollars of expensive equipment in it!” Gavin argues.

“Dude, just turn your Xbox off more than once a year,” Jack insists. “It’s not that hard.”

“Yeah, but I shouldn’t have to,” Gavin says. Ryan sighs a bit as he watches Ray work. This is conversation that will, hopefully, end with a few swift words from Michael and Geoff. Sometimes it’s honestly incredible the sort of mental loops he makes. They can call Gavin a genius all they want, that doesn’t make his ideas or reasoning any better sounding. Really the only thing it makes Ryan think about is whether they should have listened to any other supposed geniuses from history past.

“Just-” Ray says tensely. “Shut up, Gavin, shut up.”

“Everything stops when it goes to sleep, how is that different from turning it off@” Gavin urges without waiver. Whatever they had said before obviously makes Gavin need to get his point across now.

“I don’t care!” Ray shouts at him. “I don’t care, Gavin! Damage your shit all you want because I really, truly, do not care!” He lets go of the door. There isn’t a lot of time between the soft ‘click’ of the pressure plate disengaging and Ryan realising that is really bad. It all happens so fast. He instinctively shields his face from the blast and his brain rushes to catch up with that happened. That’s a mistake Ray’s never made before. That’s a mistake Ryan never ever _thought_ Ray would make before.

“Ray?” he says unsurely. The explosion, by far, was contained mostly by the solid building it was in but Ray was right in the open doorway; a concentrated section of whatever inside being blown to pieces and flung the only way out. There’s no reply. “Ray!” he calls a little more urgently as the dust settles. Ryan rushes forward as soon as he knows it’s safe enough, quickly trying to assess the damage done. Ray doesn’t move, laying so painfully still on the ground. He doesn’t look great, his face and arms scratched up something bad, but just from being so close to a blast like that he has to have done some serious internal damage.

“Ray?” Gavin murmurs worriedly.

“Ray?” Ryan urges again, reaching for his pulse. It’s way too quiet to be normal even for Ray. He’s out cold, unsurprising, and completely unresponsive.

“That was unfortunate,” Jack comments halfly as he takes a step closer to first peer into the destroyed interior of their drop and then down to Ray. “We should probably get him to a hospital. Like right now.”

\- x -

“Remember how she said nothing would be deadly if we were smart about things?” Geoff asks. Ryan gives him an annoyed stare out the corner of his eye. “I guess no one gave her the memo that we’re not very smart.”

“Is he gonna be okay?” Gavin asks worriedly, trying to peer into Ray’s room with the rest of them. It is sort of his fault if they’re being perfectly honest right now. Not so much his fault that anyone’s going to blame him, there’s far too much other stuff going on for that, but none the less. Ray is awake at least and they’re not taking him out of the game so that has to stand for something.

“Depends on what you mean by ‘okay’,” Ryan replies. “He’s definitely still _alive_.” No, Ray would never go out that easy. After all this, a small explosion during a test run isn’t going to kill him. It is hard for them to tell exactly what his condition is due to the previous health complications but it looks like nothing some minor surgery won’t fix. That does mean he’s going to out of commission for a good part of their objective and also that they’re absolutely going to be in the negative points wise. Honestly, he sort of assumed they were going to finish in the red anyways.

“He’s not, like, gonna be mad is he?” Gavin murmurs. Ryan looks at him without comment. Ray? Mad? Never. None the less, Ryan doubts Ray is going to directly blame Gavin for what happened. In fact, he’ll probably blame Ryan because why not. Ryan does feel a little bad he didn’t just try to disengage it himself, he was perfectly capable. The doctor gestures them in.

Ryan heads in first simply for the fact that none of the others will. They stay well behind him just in case it turns out Ray really is mad. Could he really be any more upset than he already was, let’s be honest here. Besides, Ray knows things go wrong in the field; even in a test field. This wouldn’t be the first or last time they were faced with severe consequences for luck not being on their side. That’s part of the job.

“As far as we can tell,” the doctor says, using her hands to make familiar gestures. Ryan recognises them almost immediately as sign language; he’s too rusty to keep up with the pace though. “Ray has lost most of his hearing. Right now, we can’t say if it’s going to come back.” Oh. With how close he was to that explosion, this isn’t surprising. It is a first, though, which is surprising because it’s very rare any of them wear hearing protection ever.

“We patched up what we could though,” the doctor continues. “His hand was pretty bad. Someone will want to keep an eye on it, it might need amputation in the future.” Ryan rubs his eyes tiredly and Ray averts his eyes elsewhere, his ever constant ability to stay completely unmoved and nonchalant unwavered. It’s so hard to tell if he’s doing this on purpose; try to get under his skin, try to make him feel guilty all over again. He already feels guilty enough, what does Ray want from him?

“He’s decided to stay here for the time being,” the doctor explains.

“Colour me surprised,” Michael grumbles.

“Once we’re sure he’s in no immediate danger of getting any worse, he’ll head back to your temps,” she assures. She nods at them politely before taking her leave from the room without anything else to tell. Ryan looks at Ray with a frown.

“What did you do to your hand, Ray?” he asks. Ray just stares at him. Ryan sighs irritably. He knows he can’t push, that he shouldn’t, that whatever Ray does isn’t any of his business anymore and that if he wants to make any ground he has to let Ray come around on his own. They don’t understand though, how hard that is. It’s so frustrating and _painful_ to see Ray keep doing this to himself.

“I know you can read my lips, Ray,” Ryan says, over enunciating every syllable to make his point. Ray looks away. “Someone- just- make sure he’s alright.” He moves back, using his fingers to rub away the uncomfortable sensation of over stimulation from behind his eyes. He’s glad whatever Jeremy gave him is helping because he’s sure he would have lost his temper otherwise.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Ray murmurs. Ryan looks up a little as Ray looks back at him if not only for the sake of being able to read his lips.

“Okay,” Ryan says softly. “Okay. I understand. Are you- gonna be okay, Ray?”

“I’m fine,” Ray replies simply and shrugs like it’s not nearly as big of a deal as they’re making it out to be. “I’ve blown myself up before. On the bright side, I don’t have to hear Gavin’s dumbass mouth anymore.”

“Aw, X-Ray,” Gavin frowns.

So slow but, it’s better than nothing.


	14. Treading On

“So what now?” Geoff asks, shoving his hands in his pocket as they make their way down the street back to their living quarters. That's a good question; Ryan doesn’t really know. Generally he’s had better plans and more resources than this. “We blew up our only lead, our ace is in the hospital sucking down painkillers, and our clocks running.”

“I guess we find another lead,” Ryan murmurs. “We found the first one.”

“Ugggh,” Michael groans vocally as he tosses his head back. “We had to do like forty side missions for that, though! We don't have the time or patience to go through all that again.”

“Well, now that we have a head start, maybe it won't be so bad,” Jack offers but he doesn’t sound too convinced himself. It is entirely possible that was their only lead and that they'll have to do without it. If it was even a lead at all. It went up so fast and so hot, there's really no telling what was actually in it.There’s no point in fretting over it now, though, they have to get another foothold in this soon.

“We could recon, I guess,” Ryan offers. “It'll be tedious but with the five of us, it shouldn't be that much of a problem.” While they're definitely taking a hit with Ray down for the count right now, it's not like they're completely helpless. They just have to work a little harder and a little faster if they want to make good time. They won’t be making up any points but the point is, they have to get this job done. The longer they’re here, the longer it is until their basic training is done.

“G’afternoon, Ryan,” she says as she passes by.

“Good afternoon, Mica,” he replies automatically. “If we can get Michael and Jack on bikes-” Ryan stops. Immediately, he tries to bolt down the street but Mica grabs the back of his jacket before he can make any headway. Regret.

“Ryan!” she says pleasantly as if she doesn’t have a death hold on his clothing and he didn’t just try to sprint away from her. “I heard you quit. Didn't think I'd see you here of all places.” His datemates turn to her curiously, the lot of them creating a blockage in the middle of the sidewalk. Curse his pseudo friendly nature.

“Who is-” Gavin begins.

“Holy shit, are you Mica Burton?” Michael asks suddenly. “ _Holy shit_.”

“That's me,” Mica replies, grinning across her face. Ryan's surprised she doesn’t have shark teeth by now. They’d suit her. “I'm glad to see you came back, Ryan.”

“Like, LeVar Burton’s daughter Burton?” Geoff asks in disbelief.

“Uh, are these your new partners?” Mica questions somewhat scathingly. Republica isn’t just for the no-name, found face down common people. There's quite a few famous people in their ranks though Ryan couldn't name them himself. Their identities tend to be kept more secret to prevent incidental scandals with messy jobs. This shouldn't be surprising at any rate, Republica is extensive and quiet when it needs to be.

“Yeah,” Ryan sighs. “Can you let me go now? I don't actually want anything to do with you again. That also hurts.” Taking no offence, Mica releases the death grip she has on the general area of his back and he tugs his jacket back into place with a small huff.

“Ryan,” Jack hisses quietly and gives him A Look; some sort of urge for him to ‘be nice’.

“Again? You used to work with Ryan?” Gavin asks in some form of awe.

“Oh yeah,” Mica agrees as she smiles at Ryan so sharply, smugly even. “The Mad King and The Mad Queen. We fucked some shit up back before Ryan went all code red.”

“How many partners have you had, Ryan?” Geoff asks pointedly.

“ _Not_ partners,” Mica corrects rather harshly. “We worked together, that's all.” Of course that was all. There were never many people who wanted to invest in someone like him. Ryan supposes he proved those people right in the end. They didn’t end up like Ray.

“Didn’t Ryan get that nickname from that drug?” Michael inquires. The curiosity they have and their need to ask people a thousand questions is probably good in the long run. The more they ask now, the less they have to ask later. Ryan can’t say they always ask the best questions to the right people, however. They can be a little- tactless. He's surprised it hasn't gotten them killed yet. There's still time.

“The drug got its nickname from Ryan,” Mica promises with an amused chuckle. “Just like MQ got its nickname from me.”

“I've never heard of MQ?” Jack says inquisitively.

“That's cause they found it to have a ninety-nine percent mortality rate,” she assures. That’s the simple end of it, sure. “It gives you a better, longer high than MK and when you crash, it causes complete organ failure in a matter of minutes.” It looks like only one of them kicked their habit apparently. Granted she surely never had a reason to.

“Mica and I were testers for both drugs respectively,” Ryan explains. “What they learned from mine was it was a powerful tool for them to use in the field. What they learned from hers was that it was a powerful poison.”

“Turns out, I'm one of the few people not affected by the death part,” Mica laughs. “I was very lucky, huh.” That very reasonably could have almost been Ryan. Fortunately, Republica is pretty good about not allowing multiple deaths from human testing even if he's pretty sure one is too many.

“Oh good,” Geoff murmurs sarcastically. “I can’t wait to suddenly keel over for no reason because someone decided to test something on me.”

“Wait, if Ray met Ryan when he was-” Gavin trails off, counting something off on his fingers in a needlessly complicated fashion. “How old are you, Mica?” She hasn’t aged a day, that's certain.

“So were you born with a nose that big or did it grow that way?” Mica asks in reply. Gavin touches his nose with a small frown but she seems to have made her point about rude questions. It's a _good_ question, sure, but not one she's going to be giving the answer. She has her reasons just like everyone else who doesn't like answering questions do. Ryan doesn’t recall her ever looking any younger.

“What are you doing here, anyways?” Ryan inquires as he rubs the back of his neck sorely. Blood Gulch isn’t exactly where he expected to see her again, either. This tends to lean more towards partners or at any rate, not any people who run solo the way she does. Definitely not people who generally only take jobs for destruction.

“I'm on census,” she assures with a mute shrug. Ryan flinches. Of course she is. He's really not surprised at all if he's honest.

“You're taking census of a fake town?” Michael asks mildly.

“That's- not what that means,” Ryan murmurs.

“Wow, you guys must be really new,” Mica says, at least somewhat amused by their less than informed questions. “I check up on people Republica think might be planning on quitting, track down loss assets, and in rare cases, make sure no one's hiding any children.” She might as well be an executor in most cases.

“Kids?” Jack repeats worriedly.

“Yeah. Republica says a kid born to two parents in our business is extremely likely to also end up in this business so we have to make sure we keep close watch on them and that there aren’t any outside forces influencing their natural adaption,” Mica says. She sets her hand on her hip and rolls her eyes a little. “Then there's the who cannibal thing.”

“That what now?” Jack says immediately, his worry rapidly turning to concern. Even Geoff pales a little.

“Again,” Ryan interrupts. “Not, uh, exactly what that means in this context. They don’t _eat_ each other.”

“It's a whole thing,” Mica insists with a vague wave of the hand. “But anyways, yeah, what are you doing here? Wait, let me guess, you’re not a go to head out with your new partners yet.”

“Yeah, well,” Ryan murmurs with a small, tired sigh. “It’s a whole thing.” This gets another laugh out of her and she nods, obviously not that interested in pressing the issue. It’s not unusual for people to take new partners, sure, but this is a bit of an abnormality. Mostly because at least one of them should have been dead by now- Ryan specifically.

“So, you get Ray killed yet?” she asks. They all flinch a little. “No way, really? Colour me impressed.”

“He’s just in the hospital,” Jack promises. Mica looks at him curiously then back at Ryan.

“Huh. I thought for sure he’d murder the hell out of you the first chance he got,” she murmurs to herself. She gives an interested nod, though Ryan can’t be sure what this really means, before giving him a solid pat on the back. Well he’s going to have a bruise there. It’s clear she hasn’t changed at all from the last time they’ve seen each other. At least superficially.

“He definitely tried,” Geoff assures. “Multiple times.”

“Like, six times?” Gavin agrees, thinking about it.

“It’s gotta be more than six,” Michael argues. “He probably tried a whole bunch of times we didn’t know about, too.” Mica laughs.

“That sounds more like him,” she agrees. “Well hey, why don’t I help you guys? You’ll get your job done faster and it’ll help me take census without tipping lots of people off.” Ryan gets the feeling that people are going to get tipped off basically no matter what considering it’s not a _secret_ she’s working for higher ups, but he’s also not sure if she’s really giving them a choice. Like most people in Republica, she’s not an enemy they want. Nor a competitor, honestly.

“With Ray bedbound, that might not be a bad idea,” Jack admits reluctantly. The fact is, they are truly capable of managing without him or Mica; they’re not helpless in this. Whether they should have help or not, however, is a different story. It’ll definitely go faster, that’s for sure. Mica turns to speak to Ryan in a language only the two of them understand- at least as far as either of them know.

“Ray was on census watch for a long time after you left,” she tells him. “The only reason neither of you are now is because the higher ups think Ray’ll kill you before he lets you leave again. If Ray leaves now, well, they know a war when they see one.” Geoff squints at them suspiciously where the others only look curious. He doesn’t like not knowing, especially when it comes to Ryan, more and more lately.

“Do you know what Republica wants with us?” Ryan inquires in the same tongue.

“With you?” Mica replies. “Think about it.” Well that’s uncomfortably vague. Census takers work outside the mode of operation for Republica, they have to in order to get their work done, and that means that if anyone’s going to know what Burnie is trying to accomplish here, it’s going to be her. That being said, she is still Republic and still values information as currency. Working with her may be the only chance he has at even beginning to figure out what’s going on around here.

“You probably already know but that’s Geoff, that’s Jack, that’s Michael, and that’s Gavin,” Ryan introduces, gesturing to each of them and their various range of emotions for their current situation. Again, Ryan’s constant reaction to meeting people from his old life seems to have taught them that this is never a good thing and as such, they’re all a little weary. Of course, they’re also not wrong. Republica’s ‘right’ to terminate employees whenever they see fit means that if she so much as thinks someone is going to try to escape, she can outright slaughter them.

This might be an extremity in most cases, he’s sure she’d rather talk than kill, but that doesn’t mean it’s not an honest concern. The people who want to leave this kind of work are generally not people who want to talk about it. Mica is around to stop situations exactly like what Ryan put himself in.

“It’s nice to meet ya’ll,” Mica replies, grinning pleasantly. “I hope we work well together.” Yeah, Ryan hopes so too.

“And I’m Jeremy!”

“Jesus Christ!” Geoff shouts as the little chemical lad suddenly appears in their vicinity, startling almost everyone.

“We haven’t seen you in three days!” Michael barks. “What the fuck!” Jeremy looks at them curiously, obviously not sure what they’re on about, but smiling happily all the same.

“I have been here,” he assures. Jeremy has such an uncanny ability to completely elude a person’s range of vision, Ryan would not be surprised if he’s been lurking around lately. That being said, Ryan would also not be surprised if Jeremy accidentally knocked himself out and was under the bed for the last three days, either. He’s a weird kid.

“We know each other, Jeremy,” Mica tells him, chuckling amusedly. Jeremy looks her over, perhaps trying to recognise her, before taking off down the street in the same fashion Ryan had tried to. Mica actually lets him go, however. He disappears around the corner and Ryan shakes his head a little.

“If that doesn’t tip us off that this is a fucking terrible idea, I don’t know what will,” Michael grumbles.

“I have bad news for you guys if you think _that_ was the biggest warning sign,” Mica says. Oh sure, this is going to be fun.

\- x -

Jack pets his chest gently as they lie in bed, Ryan’s skin still stained with scars he won’t get rid of. They’re faded, though, most of the big ones from so long ago. At one time, he was worried he’s forget if they disappeared; forgot how he got them and that he never wants to do that again. Now he kind of wishes it was that easy to forgot. To try to get them removed now, however, feels like some kind of insult or blasphemy. He has them for a reason and those reasons might not be pretty, the scars might not be pretty, but keeping them means more than he could put into words.

“Ryan,” Jack murmurs quietly.

“Yeah,” Ryan replies. Geoff and the lads have huddled into the other bed in a tangled mess of limbs and snoring both comfortable and content. Now that they’re back on solid land, they’ve all been sleeping a little better. Even the stabilizers of Roosterteeth can’t really make them forget they’re floating on the water thousands of miles off the shore. He used to have nightmares about sinking, everyone does at some point. The thought that the building can survive even thousands of miles _below_ the surface doesn’t make anyone feel any better for good reason.

Jack traces his collar bones with the soft pads of his fingertips, not ready to speak just yet. He sighs when he does, though.

“It seems kind of silly to ask now but I guess we always just kind of assumed before; are you- gay, Ryan?” he asks curiously. What an odd question. Ryan supposes no, they never really did ask but he also never thought it to be something important enough to bother with. For a long time, Geoff did assume ‘Ray’ was some woman from his past and Ryan had let him think that because there was no reason to correct him; all he wanted was to forget.

“Not that it matters, I guess,” Jack assures quickly. “We just sort of assumed you were bi or something? But it seems like all the women you’ve even known have been- competition?” He certainly sees where Jack is coming from. It’s interesting that he’s brought it up now of all times, though. Perhaps he was expecting Ryan to admit something romantic had happened between him and Mica from their time as test subjects? They are parallels, the good and bad of Republica testing where who is which is never really clear. The sum of one or the sum of many? He supposes in some roundabout way, it would make sense if they had been a couple at one point.

Jack obviously realises this never happened.

“I don’t know,” Ryan murmurs simply. “I don’t think I’ve dated enough to say for sure.” He likes men and women, certainly, but there is a whole range of people that his experiences can not account for. He wouldn’t want to restrict himself to such a label without knowing for certain whether he is or isn’t attracted to other kinds of people. Jack snorts a small laugh but it fades away in quiet again. Ryan doesn’t think this was asked out of just simple curiosity or even because of their meet up with Mica.

“So you- wouldn’t be averse to dating a woman?” Jack asks.

“Jack,” Ryan says. “I really can’t say I’m open to dating anyone else right now. I still can’t believe you guys have stuck with me this long if I’m honest.” He’s not exactly prime date estate, anyways. Then again, he never really was, was he? That certainly didn’t stop Geoff.

“But theoretically,” Jack requests again. Ryan still isn’t sure why he’s asking. He supposes it doesn’t matter that much, either, as long as Jack wants to know. It is Jack after all and it’s not like he’s exactly expecting him to turn around and try to make Ryan out to be a womanizer or something. Admittedly, none of them really would but it’s still clear the whole lot of them are still a little uncertain of their places anymore- Geoff especially.

“Certainly,” Ryan agrees quietly. “If things turn out that way, that would be alright with me.” The gender of his partner has never really been an influencing criteria on whether or not they’d have a relationship. “Uh, my- _lack_ of female companionship over the years is not because I don’t like them but rather because for a large portion of my life, I’ve been quite, well, unpleasant to be around and the woman I attracted were-”

“Like Lindsay,” Jack finishes. “Or Mica?”

“Yeeah,” Ryan replies. Women who could stand him were often time more interested in bullying him than dating him. Which considering his track record, was probably more deserved than he would have liked to think. Honestly, a lot of people who could stand being around him were not exactly pleasant themselves and didn't generally have his best interest in mind. That didn't make them malicious to him, he and Mica simply had different goals, but it largely contributed to them not ‘getting along’. In the end, he supposes this was the pattern that both drove him into Ray's arms and on the same breath, made him think Ray was manipulating him; a break in the pattern Ryan knew too acutely.

“Well,” Jack softly sighs out. He seems done with this particular line of questioning for the time being. “Can we trust Mica at least?”

“Trust her? I would imagine,” Ryan murmurs. “We can trust her to do what she says she'll do. It's more that what she says she'll do might not be, uh, good for us.” Perhaps she has best intentions but that doesn't mean they're particularly useful or positive for them. Census workers are scary, sure, but it is work that needs to be done for the safety of Republica and their workers.

“Oh. Good,” Jack scoffs sarcastically.

“I really don't think Mica is our enemy,” Ryan assures. Like she said, she's not here to watch them because if any of them were to try to leave, it would be a situation that handled itself.

“You didn’t act like it,” Jack murmurs. He makes an excellent point even if he's read the situation a little wrong.

“Mica and I had a bit of a- volatile relationship when we worked together,” he admits. “As in, we didn't often work together because the drugs we were taking generally made us more interested in outdoing each other and ultimately fighting each other instead of working.” She is small but unlike the drugs Ryan took that naturally enhanced his abilities hers was a little more- extreme.

“You've both changed,” Jack insists.

“I suppose,” Ryan agrees. “We're both a little more mellow, I guess.”

“I didn’t say that,” Jack snorts a laugh. Ryan gives him a mild look. “I guess it's too late to take it back, anyways. We'll just have to see this through.”

“Yeah,” he replies. “It won't be that bad, I promise.” He doesn’t think at least. If his fuzzy memory recalls correctly, he actually quite enjoyed her company. Jack rests his head on Ryan’s chest.

\- x -

Alright, well, things will probably be very bad if Jeremy decides to antagonize Mica. He's been acting stranger than usual which is really saying something but fortunately, Mica doesn’t seem to care much. As long as she isn't taking this behavior as Jeremy feeling guilty or afraid that she's onto him, they should be fine. Ryan knows for a fact Jeremy isn’t trying to leave Republica and apparently so does Mica.

Michael elbows him in the ribs, urging Ryan to do something about Jeremy before he gets himself hurt. Ryan shrugs animatedly, not fully sure what he's supposed to do. Again, Michael gestures irritably.

“Jeremy,” Ryan says. Jeremy perks his head up curiously from behind the chair he has crouched behind to suspicious watch Mica across the room. “Leave Mica alone please.” He seems to have taken a sort of fondness to Ryan, perhaps from the simply niceties he had extended, and as such seems to be more than happy to give Ryan’s words heavy consideration. Mica glances toward Jeremy, quickly making him duck back down behind the chair, before looking back to Ryan curiously. He sighs.

“Jeremy,” Ryan repeats. Jeremy furrows his brows indignantly before puffing his chest up a bit.

“She has my drug,” he insists.

“I what now?” Mica answers.

“My drug!” Jeremy yips. “You stole it! That was important research and I got in so much trouble!” At any rate, Mica appears more puzzled than annoyed. Ryan’s going to assume she didn’t ‘steal’ anything or at any rate, not directly from Jeremy. Geoff rubs his temples in the corner.

“What do you think she stole, Jeremy?” Ryan asks slowly.

“Day Five!” Jeremy insists. “That’s not fully tested yet!”

“This?” Mica inquires, displaying a little vial. Jeremy hurriedly jumps for it and Ryan grabs a hold of him before he gets very far. “I confiscated this from an agent.”

“Can Jeremy have it back?” Ryan requests, gesturing to it. With a flip of her hand, she puts it away again.

“‘fraid not. It has to be submitted back through control center,” she shrugs. “It’s pretty rare Republica announces a drug ‘too cruel’ to use in the workline so they want it back.” ‘Pretty rare’ is an understatement. Ryan has never heard of Republica coding anything like that.

“That’s because it hasn’t been fully tested yet!” Jeremy yelps. “It’s just a prototype and it’s the only one! It was so expensive.”

“You already got in trouble for losing it,” Ryan murmurs. “Just let her turn it in and they’ll pardon you, alright?”

“I don’t care about that!” comes the sharp reply. “I put a lot of work into that!”

“Not my call,” Mica replies.

“Exactly how much of that do you need, Jeremy?” Ryan asks. Both Mica and Jeremy pause, looking at him curiously. With nothing to gain from this, it’s clear they’re not sure what he’s trying to accomplish. “Look, the last thing I need is one or both of you causing problems for my actual team, alright? Neither of you should even be here with us right now.” They exchange looks, a small debate of whether or not they’re open to compromising with each other, before they both nod agreeably.

“Not much,” Jeremy assures. “Just enough to remake the chemical compound to make more.”

“I never specified how much was left when I confiscated it,” Mica says.

“Alright. Good. That’s settled. Can we get back to business now?” Ryan asks tiredly, gesturing to Gavin and the very, very annoyed hawk he’s holding. “I don’t want to find out how long this thing will deal with this.”

“Please can I let it go now?” Gavin says very quietly, trying not to startle the thing.

“Not yet,” Geoff snaps back at him. “Not until it spits out my ring!”

“I don’t think that’s the end it’s going to come out of,” Jack murmurs.

\- x -

“How’s Ray doing?” Ryan asks as Jack wanders out of the hospital room. Jack gives him a look that reads like he should know better.

“Like he’s always doing,” he replies. “They’re still trying to see if they can fight off the infection in his hand but it’s not looking great. Chances are it will need amputating. On the bright side, Republica is pretty advanced in artificial- everything?”

“Did he tell you what happened?” he inquires. It’s not as if Ray is going to be telling him anything, after all. Jack sighs.

“Same thing he told Michael,” he assures. A story Ryan’s still not buying. He’s likely to lose that arm and his best story is ‘I broke a bong’? “Other than that, he’s mostly fine. Take it easy, okay?”

“Yeah,” Ryan agrees softly. He’s been trying to do that with less than amazing results but he’s still trying. Jack gives him a small nod before they cross paths and Ryan heads into Ray’s room quietly- not that it matters much at the moment with his current condition. Twice as attentive as usual, Ray glances at him immediately. At least he’s looking a little better at any rate. Ever since he supposedly visited his parents he’s been slowly but surely looking better.

Ryan comes to sit in the chair beside his bed and Ray turns back to his game. For a moment they simply sit in silence, nothing that’s unusual for them, but eventually Ray does turn towards him a bit so he can speak.

“We’ve done some fucked up things to each other,” Ryan says and he tries not to murmur so Ray can properly read his lips. He’s got to brush up on his sign language. There’s just so much to do and to juggle. Things felt like they used to be easier when he was a drug test junkie. Ray snorts a laugh.

“That’s an understatement,” he agrees, his amusement flat but at any rate semi-sincere.

“I feel like I’ve said this a thousand times in a thousand different ways already but I don’t know, maybe you’ll believe me this time; I’m really so, so sorry, Ray,” Ryan says. Again, Ray manages to laugh a little.

“Man, it’s not that I don’t believe you,” he replies. Yeah, maybe Ryan knows that but there’s really nothing more he can do even if he wants to so bad. “I’m sorry too, Ryan.”

“Jeremy gave me some stuff that- has actually been helping a lot,” Ryan tells him. “It’s not like some magic cure I guess but I- didn’t know I could ever feel this way. It’s pretty weird.”

“Yeah,” Ray says softly. “I think I’m finally starting to kick this addiction, too. It feels good. I feel, I dunno, not functional but better I guess.”

“Addiction?” Ryan questions. “I- I didn’t know about this.” Ray rubs his nose a little, looking off to the side none to discreetly before looking back at him. Ryan knows how he hates to look at people too straight on; it’s unfortunate that’s a requirement now.

“I didn’t want you to,” Ray murmurs. “I’ve had a problem with benzos for a long time now.”

“ _Oh_ ,” Ryan sighs as he puts his head in his hand. Panic attack medication. The side effects, the withdrawal symptoms; he should have put that together long before this. He was so caught up in his own fucking problems he couldn’t even take the two seconds to realise Ray had his own. “How long is a long time?”

“Most of the time we knew each other?” Ray offers somewhat sheepishly.

“You know Ray,” Ryan says. “The more I think about it, the more I think a lot of our problems came from out mental states mixing unfortunately horribly.”

“Ya think,” Ray replies sarcastically. “Look man, I know you’re sorry. It’s not that I don’t believe you or, I don’t know, that I don’t forgive you or whatever bullshit I’ve said. You just- you scare me a little, alright? I said it. I know what happened between us happened because your schizophrenia and drug habits got way out of control but I just- I keep thinking I didn’t see it coming the first time, why the hell would I see it coming the second?” Has he really been so dense and selfish that he couldn’t even realise the entire time Ryan has been assuming Ray was trying to punish him with his behavior that he was really just- scared? Scared of _Ryan_?

Ryan knows it makes sense. He knows that after everything that happened to them, Ray would be _wise_ to be afraid. Perhaps they both played a part in their inevitable downfall but Ryan is still the one that pulled the trigger. Even so, it hurts to hear him say it- hell Ryan probably already knew it and it still makes his heart ache all over again.

“Aw, man, no,” Ray says, turning away with a small shake of the head. “Dude, come on, don’t start this crying bullshit.” Ryan rubs his palms into his eyes, swiftly dispersing the little pinpricks of tears, before resting his forearms on his knees. Ray looks back at him smalley, not quite ready to look him in the eye, either.

“The last thing I ever wanted was for you to be afraid of me, Ray,” Ryan says slowly. He ducks his head down a little but forces himself upright again as to not cut their communication. “I know that doesn’t change the fact that you are but- thank you for telling me.” Now he knows better; now he knows what he can start doing differently. So many things make sense now- Ray’s addiction, his flinching, how rapidly he can change his mind about things. He should have been paying more attention.

Maybe things wouldn’t have gotten this far.

“So what do we do now?” Ray asks as he runs his fingers over the buttons of his game distractedly.

“Keep trying to recover sounds like a good start,” Ryan says softly. He gets a small nod in return. “Hope the bad things to come are less bad.”

“Yeah. I guess so,” he murmurs. They exchange supercharged gazes, eager for something neither of them can place. Always just a little too late.

“I guess Jack probably told you Mica’s helping us,” Ryan moves on, perhaps too worried their good natured conversation will go bad too quickly. Ray looks back to his game, obviously not much interested in continuing that conversation either.

“Yeah, I was told,” he agrees. “I know pain, like, gets your dick hard or whatever but have you ever considered not teaming up with people who want to kick your ass?” He only glances at Ryan when he expects a reply and even then only barely.

“You say that as if I generally have a say in the matter,” Ryan replies. Ray shrugs in agreement. “She says she’s working census, though. If we get on her good side I’m hoping she’ll tell us why Republica thought it was a good idea to ruin our lives.”

“You’re still on this? You need to stop listening to Geoff,” Ray scoffs. “Good luck with that.” Ryan presses his lips together and crosses his arms. So maybe he has been thinking about what Geoff said. He’s just- thinking critically.

“I’ll let you get some rest,” Ryan says as he gets back to his feet. “Goodnight, Ray.” Ray doesn’t say anything else, just watched him go before ultimately going back to his game. Perhaps this could make a new chapter in their life after all or at any rate, a new paragraph.

\- x -

“I understand why you’re afraid of big birds now,” Geoff grumbles as he patches up some of his scratch marks.

“I wouldn’t say I’m afraid,” Ryan insists as he works on decoding his section of the message. They were lucky enough to lure in a messenger hawk with their insignia on it using Geoff’s ring. Of course, the bird then decided to eat Geoff’s ring and they spent more time trying to get that back then actually trying to decode the message they got. Fairly, Ryan is a little more afraid of Griffon than he is of failing their trial run.

“You scream for like three minutes straight,” Geoff reminds him pointedly.

“Yeah, before we got it restrained,” Ryan scoffs back. “A perfectly reasonable fear.”

“It’s like a ten pound bird,” Geoff urges plainly. It wasn’t like Ryan saw him trying to hug the thing, either.

“Hey, that’s heavier than Gavin,” Ryan insists. “Besides, I’m not the one with talon punctures.”

“Uh huh,” Geoff replies, unamused. “Just tell me you’re close to figuring something out and that there was a point to all of this please.”

“I think I’m close?” Ryan murmurs. It’s not exactly an easy message to decode, that’s for sure. They decided to all work on them separately to assure they can get different views on it without trying to force a puzzle piece into the wrong place. Decoding has never been Ryan’s favorite past time even if he may hold a certain skill for it. Too much sitting for him.

“Isn’t Gavin a genius? Shouldn’t he have figured this out already?” Geoff asks tiredly, looking over Ryan’s shoulder at the haphazard scribbles he’s made. “Or I don’t know, Mica? Or _you_?”

“A; if you can figure out how Gavin’s brain works, more power to you,” he answers. “B; she’s working on it just as fast as any of us are. C; I don’t see you being very helpful, Geoff.”

“ _I_ had to deal with the bird because _you_ were too afraid,” Geoff scoffs.

“No, you decided to shake the bird and it viciously attacked for you half an hour while you screamed and ran in circles,” Ryan reminds him.

“You, are fired,” Geoff says. Ryan chuckles faintly. As they fall back into silence, Geoff remains leaned over his shoulder to watch him work. It’s something he’s used to by now and isn’t very bothered by. Geoff’s a watcher, he likes to know what’s going on especially when he doesn’t have to participate. In more ways than one.

“So,” he finally says again. “What are you going to do about Jeremy?”

“Hm?” Ryan hums back. “Why? What did he do?”

“Dude, literally everyone can see he’s fucking hardcore in love with you and you’re just edging him on,” Geoff insists. Ryan pauses to give him an incredulous look over the shoulder.

“Cute. I’m just being nice to him,” Ryan assures. “He’s a friendly guy.”

“Yeah, friendly in the kind of way that says he wants to suck your dick,” Geoff murmurs.

“I’m pretty sure we talked about this jealousy thing already,” Ryan insists. “Just leave Jeremy alone, would you? He’s ‘eccentric’ enough without you putting weird ideas in his head.”

“This is exactly what I’m talking about,” he urges. Ryan rolls his eyes with a shake of the head, going back to focusing on his work. “Like I’m onboard with the Ray thing, sure, whatever, seduce that trainwreck of a human being but Jeremy? That’s a weird little dude.”

“I’m not talking about this,” Ryan says simply. “Especially not _now_. I think we have more important things to do than decide whether or not me being _friendly_ to a _friend_ is a problem."

“I didn’t say it was a problem!” Geoff assures quickly. “I just said he’s a weird dude that _you’re_ leading on and I’m going to need some serious convincing or something.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he says with a clearly insincere tone. Fortunately this is not a conversation that have to have much longer.

“Oh!” Mica yelps. “I got it! It’s an address!”

“There? Are you happy?” Ryan asks pointedly. Geoff makes a grumpy ‘hmp’ sound before the two of them rejoin in the living room with the others. Mica waves her paper around pleasantly as Gavin grumbles to himself and digs through his pocket.

“Why did you bet with her?” Michael asks loudly.

“I thought I could do it!” Gavin replies. “I used to decode lots of stuff!” Indignantly, he hands over his motorcycle key. Mica looks at it a moment and immediately stops grinning.

“I thought you said you had a motorcycle,” she says.

“A sanchez is a motorcycle!” he insists huffily.

“Ya know what,” Mica murmurs, placing the key back in his hand. “You can keep this.” Gavin pouts animatedly but doesn’t argue, simply pocketing his key again. Instead, she turns back to Ryan. Perhaps she is under the assumption he is the team leader or he’s just familiar to her but either way, it obviously annoys Geoff. Fairly, with the rest of them still new at this, Ryan has been taking the lead lately. It’s really not until someone else obviously notices that Geoff even cares who leads. He snatches the paper away from her and Mica gives him such a look of disbelief, Ryan feels Geoff is about to be minus one mustache.

“Alright,” she says slowly. “Don’t you _ever_ do that again.”

“Really because-” Geoff begins. Ryan immediately gets between them before she skips his mustache and rips the soul out of his body. Which would be fair at this point. He wouldn’t blame her for that.

“What did you get?” he asks curiously. Mica stares at Geoff past him but fortunately lets it go. Why Geoff feels the need to convince literally everyone that he is the alpha dog to the point of physically fighting them has to be some sort of personality staple because he won’t stop doing it.

“It’s an address,” Mica repeats. “Looks like it’s on the outskirts of the city, though. There’s a lot of greenhouses out that way so probably a warehouse of some sort.”

  
“That would make the most sense if we’re supposed to be stealing something,” Jack offers. “Should we go scope it out?”

“Why was it attached to a hawk, though?” Gavin inquires. “I mean, I have seen a weird amount of hawks around but I dunno, it’s still strange innit?”

“They’re messenger hawks,” Ryan explains.

“Okay,” Michael replies. “Why.” Ryan and Mica look at each other. Honestly, it was never a question they really had asked before.

“They look cool?” Mica offers curiously.

“They’re just a thing here, okay?” Ryan assures. “The hawks aren’t abnormal.”

“Granted whoever was supposed to get that hawk is probably now very onto the fact that someone has intercepted it,” Mica reminds them, giving Geoff another pointed look.

“That’s true,” Jack murmurs. “If we head to that address now, they’ll probably be ready for us.”

“We’ll want to gather some more information about the location first,” Ryan suggests. Michael groans in irritation and Gavin joins him even louder.

“When does the stuff that isn’t fucking boring as hell start?” Michael asks. “All we’ve been doing since we’ve fucking got here is look for information. The most exciting thing that happened is when Ray got blown up a little bit.”

“I’m not sure that counts as a ‘little’ bit,” Jack says.

“Let’s just go in there and we’ll deal with whatever’s there when we get to it,” Geoff says simply.

“That’s a terrible idea,” Mica assures.

“Remember when I said some people around here can shoot on sight?” Ryan murmurs.

“Remember the part where I’m the goddamn boss and we do what I say?” Geoff replies shortly. Ryan gives him an unhappy look. “Gear up everybody. Let’s head out.”

“Top!” Gavin yips happily. While everyone disburses to gather their things, Mica holds back to look up at Ryan amusedly.

“What?” he scoffs faintly.

“Nothing,” she says. “Just thinking about old dogs and tricks.”

“You’d be surprised how many new tricks I know,” Ryan assures her plainly.

“I know you’ve always had a crush on me but try to keep it in your pants would you, Ryan,” Mica says as she wanders off to suit herself up as well. Ryan makes a small huff under his breath.

“She is saying you are attracted to people who can kick your ass likely due to the fact that you nearly killed your first girlfriend in a psychotic fit and a part of you is still worried that might happen again thus only attracting people who can reasonable hold their own against you gives you a feeling of safety,” Jeremy says grinning up at him. Ryan stares at him blandly.

“Don’t psychoanalyze me,” he instructs. Jeremy frowns.

“You’re not the boss of me,” he grumbles. Ryan narrows his eyes at the lad. “Buuuut, I respect you and I will keep any further ‘analysis’ to myself.”

“If you’re coming, just stay behind me, alright?” he murmurs. “I don’t need you getting shot at, too.” Jeremy beams at him happily. 


	15. Slightly Different

The address does, in fact, exist which is always a good start. Gavin was really close to cracking that code first! Damn his easily distracted nature. Of course before they left Geoff pulled him aside to make sure what he had was at least somewhat similar to what Mica gave them and it was. Geoff's been a little extra paranoid lately but Gavin supposes it never hurts to make sure their new friend really is a friend.

The lot of them loiter in a greenhouse near by, pretending to shop for food while they check out the warehouse not too far off. Seven of them traveling together is never really going to be discrete even a little but, of course, discrete isn’t really their style, either. Gavin munches on a few grapes off a vine.

“Well, it's heavily guarded,” Jack comments. “That's a good sign, I guess?”

“Doesn’t mean there's anything in there,” Ryan murmurs. “Or that it's what we're looking for.”

“This is the address that stupid bird with our stupid logo was carrying,” Michael scoffs irritably. “Seems like a huge fucking red arrow to me.”

“Yeah, then we intercepted the fucking bird meaning it never got to where it's going meaning they're either expecting us or have fucking moved already,” Geoff grumbles. “Probably why there's so many guards out.”

“This is a big building,” Jack comments.

“And that's a lot of people,” Gavin murmurs. This might be a little more complicated than they initially thought. The difficulty is artificial but still there. On the bright side, it'll probably be a lot easier time find loopholes in this little game going on around here. Ray says people speedrun this! Gavin can't even fathom what that means in this context.

“We need a plan,” Ryan says.

“We have a plan,” Geoff bites back.

“This should be good,” Mica says under her breath.

“We're going to make a distraction,” Geoff assures. “Draw everyone's attention. Ugh, I hate to say this but- Gavin, you and Jeremy are going to go in from the north.”

“The side where all the guards are?” Jack says flatly.

“You know what I mean!” Geoff barks back. “The back of the building!” Gavin looks at Jeremy curiously and the lad grins at him so he grins back. He's alright with this. He feels like he doesn’t mind Jeremy near as much as the others do at the moment. That being said, the others don't exactly have any strong feelings for him in the first place and have been just a _little_ preoccupied lately. Anyone who likes Ryan is okay in Gavin’s book! That's how he met his current boyfriends after all.

“Is it really a good idea to send Jeremy in?” Michael asks. “Especially with Gavin?”

“They're small and they know how to be quiet,” Geoff says, giving them both pointed looks. Gavin puffs his cheeks a bit. He _knows_ how to be quiet! He just doesn't like to be. He can be stealthy, no problem. “They'll be fine.”

“I'm an acrobat!” Jeremy assures gladly.

“No one asked,” Geoff replies immediately. Jeremy frowns.

“Well alright,” he murmurs. “Mean.”

“And I hate to say this even more but, Ryan, you and Mica are going to approach from that unloading zone over there,” Geoff goes on.

“Is it really a good idea to send Mica in with Ryan?” Jack asks matter-of-factly.

“And let's remember who the fuck in charge of all you fucks is!” Geoff barks. This really only gets him several rolls of the eyes. “Now the rest of us! Are going to approach from the front and make a lot of noise for you guys while you get in, try to find something useful, and get out.”

“Does he usually make plans that'll get us all killed in situations that don't call for it?” Mica asks curiously, taking another bite from her peach.

“Oh yeah!” Jeremy answers before anyone else gets a chance. “Geoff's brain doesn't properly calculate risk-reward scenarios! Even worse than most white, old men! Fortunately, he typically has the backup to make unlikely odds at least somewhat more approachable which, surprisingly enough, makes him a half decent leader and a fairly well adjusted entrepreneur! It definitely helps he-”

“Hey Jeremy,” Geoff says and he rudely crouches down beside Jeremy. Jeremy looks at him curiously. “Stop telling people about my brain!”

“In retrospect, I'm not sure I'm coming out with an equal end of the stick here,” Mica comments.

“You know Mica,” Ryan replies. “I'm not even sure you'd get a stick out of us if we were a stick factory.”

“Everyone into positions!” Geoff barks. They're not exactly prepared for this but Gavin feels that's when they do their best work anyways. Not exactly in a hurry, everyone sorts out to start coordinating with one another to the extent that they will- not much.

“Come on, Lil’ J!” Gavin says and he gladly starts off so they can sneak behind the building. Jeremy doesn’t follow. In fact, he doesn’t even acknowledge Gavin, instead still pleasantly smiling as he looks around for what he should be doing. Gavin quickly slides back over to his side and leans into his ear. “That's you Jeremy,” he whispers.

Jeremy lights up. He looks at Gavin inquisitively before looking to Ryan with stars in his eyes as if to say ‘look what I got’. Hurriedly, he follows Gavin this time so they can find a half decent position. They leave the greenhouse, have a peek around, then make a wide arch around several other buildings to get behind the row of them. It's pretty tight quarters back here, pressed into an alleyway surely designed for this exact reason. They hurry along in a line quickly but quietly. Fortunately it's so cramped back here no one's patrolling.

The two of them duck into a little nook to hold out for their signal, which in this case will probably be gunfire.

“You said you're an acrobat, too?” Gavin asks quietly.

“Yeah,” Jeremy grins back.

“Sweet!” Gavin coos. They grin at each other excitedly. “Like, you'd tell us if you knew what we were supposed to be doing, right?”

“Probably not,” Jeremy replies in a bubbly tone. Gavin pouts. That's fair but still. He peeks out of their cover, assuring the alleyway remains clean and clear. It's less that he's worried about, they could surely take on a guy easily in this alley, it's more how many guys are going to be waiting inside. Their chances are far less good inside an open building with lots of guns- guns with non lethal rounds but guns all the same.

“You don't happen to be bullet proof, do you Jeremy?” Gavin asks.

“Not last time I checked,” Jeremy murmurs. Gavin pauses.

“You- check?” he asks inquisitively. A gunshot fires from in front of the building and then there's many, many more. The sound of people rushing out of the building follow close after. Jeremy swiftly moves to action and Gavin follows him. He peers into the back door, newly abandoned, and then Jeremy does as well. Content with no one being there, they hurry in. This is obviously a very generic warehouse. To be honest, Gavin wouldn't be fully surprised if every wearhouse here looked exactly like this.

The gunfire out front assures them that for the time being, they have some freedom to move around. Of course, they're careful anyways of the people potentially wandering behind but they still got to be quick, too. They don't dare split up, either. Instead, they follow one another down a hall and eagerly peer into each office nook; so eerily generic.

“Is this normal?” Gavin questions quietly.

“What?” Jeremy asks back, blinking at him. That answers that question he guesses. They hurry down a floor into the weird, dark basement. Alright, well this is somehow still very generic and twice as terrifying. Gavin sticks to Jeremy's side like glue as they carefully wander the dark corridors. They probably shouldn't be down here.

“Do you smell that?” Jeremy says and pauses briefly to speak to him. Gavin has a more alert whiff.

“Gas?” he replies curiously. “Isn't that, uh, real bad?”

“There's not a lot of it, though,” Jeremy murmurs. “Not enough for a deadly explosion just- a very specifically controlled amount.”

“Enough to- burn documents?” Gavin offers. ”Very important documents?”

“Maybe,” Jeremy says thoughtfully.

“Let's be careful of any detonators,” Gavin says and they continue along.

\- x -

Ryan hoists Mica up to the window so she can grab onto the ledge from which she easily gets herself up and in. He peers around but fortunately, everyone is distracted with the sorry excuse of a gunfight. Turning back to her, he finds her extending her hand to help him up. Oh. Ryan sort of expected her to open a door for him or maybe the garage. He takes a rough estimate of his chest size then of the small window and frowns at her.

Mica gestures with her hand for him to hurry. Reluctantly, he takes her hand and pulls himself up to the ledge as well before trying to wedge himself through. He does fit, if just barely. Mica hops down and Ryan follows.

“There's no one here,” Mica murmurs.

“They all left?” Ryan confirms, having a look around as he drops down after her. That is pretty strange actually. Why did they _all_ join the gunfight? Curiously, the two of them have a small poke around.

“Smell that?” Mica asks. “Smells like gas.”

“Yeah,” Ryan agrees. “Not a lot, though. Just enough.”

“Enough to mask what?” Mica muses. Perhaps they don't want to find out. From out of the neck of her hoodie, she pulls a length of connected cloth. She wraps it around the lower half of her face and buttons it together snug against her neck and again so the top rests just on the bridge of her nose. Ryan pulls a similar cloth from the hood of the sweater he wears under his mostly for show leather one. He pulls it on in a similar manner, too, buttoning it around his neck and pulling the stretchy bit up over his nose.

They keep looking.

Most of the stuff in here is pretty basic; boxes filled with packing, idle filing cabinets, desks with jargon filled papers. None of this has their symbol on it. Ryan and Mica hurry into a more secure area for the time being. Preferably, they want to be out before the distraction ends but if not, they at least need to be well hidden. They're both careful not to close any doors behind them. Right now they have no idea where the gas is coming from and they don't want to accidentally board themselves up with it.

“We should find the source,” Mica finally suggests when they haven't found anything useful for two long.

“I have an idea-” Ryan says.

“We're not igniting the gas and following the flame trail, Ryan,” Mica replies.

“You've changed,” Ryan scoffs jokingly.

“As much as neither Jeremy or Gavin would suffer from a little hair removal, they are still in here,” she says. That's a good point he supposes. Hopefully they've taken precautions to not breath in whatever is in the air around here. Ryan and Mica drop down into the basement where it's a bit darker but also much more unique to the building. Now they're in the right place.

“Can I ask you something?” Ryan asks as they move along.

“Can I ask _you_ something?” she volleys back. Information has always held a high value in RT but he's found information specifically about him lately is even more highly valued. He doesn’t make the mistake of thinking they care, or are even interested in him, of course. It's what happened between he and Ray; they want to know how, why, and what to do to avoid it. From which side, Ryan can't always be sure. He can’t complain at the moment, it gets him information.

“Go for it,” Ryan assures. If he doesn't want to answer then he just won't ask.

“Why didn't you kill Ray?” Mica asks. Ryan isn’t shocked that's for sure.

“When?” Ryan murmurs.

“Either,” she replies.

“I- couldn't,” he tells her. Mica snorts a laugh.

“Yeah, you could, why didn't you?” she asks again.

“No,” Ryan confirms. “I don’t mean I emotionally couldn't find the will to do it, I mean I physically lacked the skill to get it done. When I, uh,” he pauses to consider the right words. “‘Broke down’, it was my entire intention to make sure Ray didn't survive. I was convinced he had it out for me. I didn’t have the capability to finish it.” Mica actually looks a touch surprised. She looks at him curiously for a moment before they both continue their search.

“Huh,” she says. “I know Ray is good, even the best in some cases, but I assumed our,” she pauses, considering her words just as carefully. “‘Overclocked’ nature thanks to the drugs would push you past anything Ray could do naturally.”

“No, it- it wasn't enough,” Ryan assures.

“I guess it's a blessing Ray can't take MK, isn't it?” Mica teases. “He'd surely be a force to be reckoned with.” Republica has already made it clear if Ray leaves, they won't risk the destruction he would bring to hunt him down. That's not a statement they make easily.

“The gas is thicker here,” Ryan murmurs. “Look. We should hurry.” Visible gas means a significantly bigger explosion if it were to go up and they don't want to be in it when it goes.

“We must be near the source,” Mica says quietly. She pulls her hood up over her head to cover her face and hair and zips it to her built in breathing mask. Ryan decides to do the same, pulling the rest of his hood out to shield his face so he can see out the sheer fabric on the front. Mica looks at him.

“What?” he replies. She looks away with an amused sound. He likes his skull print. It's awesome.

“What was your question?” Mica asks and they make the effort now to follow the gas hopefully to its source.

“Why’d you join census?” Ryan questions. “No offense, but you're gorgeous and capable, you could do anything you want.” Mica shrugs animatedly.

“Nothing caught my attention,” she says. “Census seemed to be the best place to see what other jobs had to offer and why people would want to leave them. See the worst of the best, you know? If I can't bare to be a part of something when it gets bad, I don’t want to be a part of it. I need to know what I'm getting into before I call myself the best of something.” Wise if not a little pessimistic. Knowing she's just doing this until she finds something she truly wants to do makes more sense, honestly. Census isn’t exactly the most entertaining of jobs most days.

“I was expecting, you know, a ‘hard pressed’ question,” Mica giggles. “You really have changed, haven't you?” Ryan scoffs mildly.

“I was just curious,” he argues. “I wasn't looking to gain anything.” Mica hums in a way that is particularly teasing and he huffs again. They continue their search in silence.

\- x -

“Hey Rwby! Did you finish that build for me?” Gavin asks pleasantly as he makes his way to one of the many hidden rooms around here.

“I did!” Rwby agrees gladly and sure enough, the seamless door opens for him and Gavin hurries in. He slips into one of the smaller chambers and gladly plops himself down in front of the several screens pinned to the wall. They flicker to life at once, displaying the information of his team.

“Top,” Gavin hums happily. The previously randomly generated maze is now a fairly accurate layout of Los Santos. He has to add some details by hand but mostly, Rwby managed to put it together from maps and images. He can see the whole thing and idle, grey coloured dots wander around like people. Gavin takes a minute to scrutinize the map again to make sure it's good.

As before, their six faces are embedded into one of the screens and at the moment, display neutrally. It's less weird now that he's used to it. The ‘item’ screen instead reports on various other necessities; injuries and more in depth well being mostly. As for the grid that shows who's still alive only has a single row this time for a single team. Gavin stretches out and leans back in his chair.

“Alright! Can we see some of those scenarios?” he questions happily.

“Certainly!” Rwby agrees.

“Let’s start with the first one, then,” Gavin hums. “See if this works.”

“Beginning scenario version one!” Rwby chirps. Among all the grey dots, several brightly coloured ones appear as his team is officially added into the works. A few of them are scattered across the map, in all too familiar locations. Michael and Geoff are in one of their apartment buildings with Ray and everyone else is spread around the city; more or less how he remembers it. It doesn’t matter all that much.

“Play it at ten times speed, please,” Gavin requests. Things begin happening very quickly. There’s no dialogue this time, not even little bites of awkwardly rephrased recordings, simply for the fact that it is surprising accurate but not perfect. Gavin really has no need for it, anyways.

**Ray Narvaez Jr. has killed Geoff Ramsey.**   
**Michael Jones is injured.**

That is about what Gavin expected to happen. Unsurprisingly, it’s downhill from there. The entire team freaks and Ray bolts into hiding while Michael flees for his life. Ryan has a complete mental breakdown while the others urgently try to hold themselves together long enough to get to safety. There’s really not such a thing anymore.

**Lindsay Tuggey is injured.**   
**Lindsay Tuggey has deactivated.**

This is surprising, however. Gavin watches curiously at the silent altercation between Ray and Lindsay before her dot ultimately leaves Los Santos all together. Ray doesn’t hesitate. He tracks them down in less than a day and Gavin watches as all the dots scramble; Jack tries to get Ryan away while an injured Michael and Gavin distract Ray. At least, that seems to be the idea. For whatever reason, Michael and Gavin’s dot panic in the safe house wildly while Ray immediately tails Jack and Ryan.

**Ray Narvaez Jr. has killed Jack Pattillo.**

Ryan is absolutely inconsolable. Surprisingly, Ray leaves him alone. No, instead he doubles back to return to the warehouse. He’s going back for Michael and Gavin. This obviously isn’t going to end well, either. Gavin watches as Ray enters the warehouse and somewhere else, Ryan rushes to catch up with him.

**Ray Narvaez Jr. has killed Michael Jones.**

Everything happens faster than Gavin expected. This happens in mere days and likely only then because Ray occasionally stops probably to nap. Gavin sees his dot hide, he’s not sure where but Ray repeatedly walks past him, and even over him, without taking even the slightest bit of notice. Ryan bursts in, not anymore collected than before, but angry now. He and Ray have a conflict, the two dots moving around harshly and injuries pop up frequently and more severe.

Then they stop. They face down. Gavin’s dot remains hidden and unmoving; catatonic.

**Ryan Haywood has killed Ray Narvaez Jr.**

Gavin comes out of hiding slowly and he and Ryan just sort of stay there for a very long time.

“Scenario end,” Rwby alerts. That was- about what Gavin thought would happen maybe minus that end part. It was a fair, fifty-fifty chance of Ryan and Ray killing each other but ultimately, it seems Ryan has the upper hand for some reason. Gavin mulls over the scenario for a moment, considering potential reasons Rwby’s algorithm would assume it would have gone this way.

“Alright Rwby, let's try scenario forty three with this Ray and a pre-Republica Ryan, please,” Gavin says.

“Sure thing!” Rwby agrees. “Preparing scenario!”

These might now be one hundred percent accurate but if he compiles enough data, Gavin is certain he can find a reasonable trigger and solution.

\- x-

“Gavin,” Jeremy whispers. They both back up slowly and Gavin latches into Jeremy's arm for some stability. “I don’t think it was just gas in the air, buddy.” He's going to guess that's really, really not a good thing. The figure that moves towards them isn’t real, his brain _knows_ that, and yet it's terrifying as all hell; a weird mix of too many horror games and people he already didn't like.

Honestly, Gavin can't say there were a ton of people he was ever truly ‘afraid’ of but he feels he's free to change his mind when said person is now strangely inhuman and nightmarish. A neck too long, fingers too sharp, teeth too many; all very unsettling. The two heads aren't amazing either. One holds some bizarrely distant resemblance of Ray and the other a much closer look a like to an old partner. An old, dead partner.

The figure moves closer.

Jeremy yelps and Gavin mimics this noise loudly. They hurriedly back further away without really a solid idea of where they want to go. Right now ‘away’ is really just good. He absolutely isn’t into this.

“I think there were hallucinogens, too,” Jeremy murmurs. Yeah, Gavin could have assumed this.

“Jeremy, is this a real person we're seeing weird or are we just group hallucinating?” he asks.

“I don’t know?” Jeremy whispers back.

“Run?” Gavin suggests.

“Run,” Jeremy agrees, nodding. At once, they both bolt in the same direction. The monster follows without hesitation, running just as fast as they do; they never gain any ground. They really need to get out of this building.

“What do you see?” Gavin asks as they run.

“Giant rabid were-chipmunk,” Jeremy says.

“Neat,” Gavin murmurs.

“How about you?” Jeremy asks.

“Dead guy from my MIA job with monster Ray's head attached,” Gavin says.

“Repressed anxiety about a job you think you messed up paired with the knowledge of what you think will happen if you mess up now,” Jeremy explains between short little pants. “That's normal.” They both peer back but only long enough to realise the thing is somehow closer now. Urgently, they run quicker.

“Not repressed!” Gavin assures. “I did totally light that library on fire but he was a dick!”

“That's fair!” Jeremy replies.

“Gavin?” That's Ryan's voice! The two of them immediately make a sharp beeline down the next path in the direction of his voice. Gavin stumbles to a much too sharp stop before he bowls into Ryan.

“Ryan! You're dead!” Gavin yelps. “Ray got you!” He grabs at Ryan immediately and thumps his face into his chest.

“Gavin, what-” Ryan murmurs.

“Ray melted your face, the bastard!” Gavin yells, muffled, into his chest. “You're only bone now! I can't make out with bone, Ryan! Or dead people!”

“Hi Mica!” Jeremy beams.

“Jeremy,” Mica replies flatly. “What were you running from?” Jeremy glances back to make sure there's nothing following them anymore before turning back again.

“Rabid were-chipmunk,” he explains matter-of-factly. “Also there's hallucinogens in the air by the way.”

“Yeah, we know,” Ryan assures as he pats Gavin on the back to comfort him. “Why didn't you guys take precautions?” Jeremy opens his mouth to reply, realises he doesn’t have an answer, then just shrugs instead.

“Let's get out of here before you two start trying to self cannibalize or something,” Mica says with a sigh. “We found what we were looking for.” Ryan picks Gavin up and Gavin reaches for his face tenderly.

“You're not even a hot skeleton, Ryan,” he whispers.

“Don’t pull my mask off,” Ryan says blandly.

“Hup we go,” Mica murmurs, hoisting Jeremy over her shoulder. He makes a soft, amazed ‘ _haaaaap_ ’ noise. “Let's go out the back way. Hopefully your team can keep them distracted just a little longer.”

“Knowing them, they'll be fine,” Ryan promises.

\- x -

At least they have some kind of headway now? Michael isn’t sure exactly where they're going but it's something. He just kind of sits aside as Geoff and Jack comb over the paperwork retrieved from the warehouse. Gavin sits at the table holding ice to his head and complaining endlessly but quietly. Apparently he and Jeremy inhaled enough of the bizarre hallucinogen and gas to easily put them on their asses. While Jeremy basically walked it off, Gavin’s a little more sensitive.

Which brings up a good point, where did Jeremy ‘walk off’ too? Michael didn't notice him go but he guesses he usually doesn't care enough anyways. Mica went for a refresher shower and Ryan went off to do whatever it is Ryan's do in times like these. Meditate? Eat computer parts? Something.

“Looks like that warehouse manufacturers a very specific kind of recreational drug,” Jack says. “I've never seen anything like this.”

“Why were they filling their warehouse with it?” Geoff asks irritably.

“Maybe it was an accident?” Jack offers.

“Uh huh, and they just so happened to ‘accidentally’ also bust a gas line just perfectly to not blow the place up but hide the drug?” Geoff replies.

“A ‘staged’ accident?” Jack offers blandly as if he should know better.

“It wasn’t an accident,” Geoff barks. “They knew we were coming and they were trying to get us high. No wonder so many of them were in masks.”

“So what, they knew we were coming and flooded their warehouse with their potent drug to give us a disadvantage in a fight,” Jack says. “We solved that puzzle. How do that help us exactly.”

“It doesn’t,” Geoff grumbles. “Shut up, I don’t see you trying.”

“We should find who makes this stuff,” Jack suggests. “We find the people taking it, find where they get it, then talk to them to find out who distributes it and go from there. Obviously this stuff is somehow related to what we’re doing here.”

“Well unfortunately, all we fucking know about this drug is that in high doses it gets you real fucked up and gives Gavin a headache,” Geoff scoffs. Gavin makes a loud, whiny noise. “We don’t even know how this stuff is sold.”

“It’s too bad we don’t have any expert on stuff like that with us, isn’t it?” he says sarcastically. That’s true. If anyone will know anything about this stuff, it would be Jeremy. Michael certainly doesn’t know shit about shit.

“Let’s just go ask him then, why don’t we?” Geoff agrees rather irritably. Oh good, he’s on one of his mood swings again. He stands and Jack rolls his eyes as he gets up to follow him. Gavin remains grumpily perched where he is but Michael gets up to tag along. Jeremy’s got to be around here somewhere probably. Of course, Geoff isn’t all that interested in that. Instead he immediately kicks open the door of the room Ryan is typically found in to instead have him magically call upon Jeremy- a much better idea.

“Jeremy- Oh! For crying out loud!” Geoff yelps and he immediately moves to shield his eyes with his arm. Michael curiously peers around him and Jack moves to do the same. Mica looks back at them, not exactly bothered by being in little more than a sheer bra before them. Jeremy sits up a little from under her.

“Yes, I am Jeremy,” he says, particularly dazed and well kissed.

“What’s going on here?” Geoff barks.

“Geoff, you’re like sixty, is that really something you need explained to you?” Mica asks.

“I’m not sixty!” Geoff snaps back.

“I think a better question is ‘why’,” Michael murmurs. “I mean,” he looks at Jeremy. “Why?” Mica looks down at Jeremy as well and Jeremy blinks curiously. She shrugs.

“He’s cute and I like him,” she says simply. “Did you want something?”

“I like the hearts-” Jack gestures to his own chest so he doesn’t have to point at her tits.

“Oh. Thanks,” Mica says pleasantly, grinning.

“We _want_ Jeremy to actually do something useful for once and help us!” Geoff snaps.

“We need him to tell us what he can about the drug he got high off of in that warehouse,” Jack clarifies a little nicer.

“Oh sure!” Jeremy agrees. He wriggles out from under Mica and she shifts enough so he doesn’t knock her off the bed. Gladly he bounds out to assist them. She doesn’t seem particularly bothered by this. Honestly, Michael thinks maybe Jeremy getting laid wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world for the kid- or Mica for that matter. She’s awfully uptight in her own way.

“Oh, Jeremy you're-” Jack comments in surprise. Jeremy looks up at him questioningly. “Sorry! Nothing. Let's go.” Geoff and Jack return to the living room with Jeremy for more yelling probably. Michael looks back to Mica.

“You’re cute but I’m indifferent to you,” she says.

“I’m indifferent to you, too,” Michael scoffs back. She grins amusedly and he goes to join the others again.

\- x-

“How’s it going?” Jack asks softly. Ryan shrugs in reply.

“They’re taking Ray in to get his arm amputated in half an hour,” he says. “It’s too bad to save now and I guess Ray isn’t willing to try anyways. He’d just rather be over and done with it.” Jack nods in understanding. It’s more than Ryan has. In the end, he supposes it really doesn’t matter much if Ray has his arm or not. Regardless of whether he’s going to decide on getting a prototype fake one or if he just doesn’t want one, it’s not like it’s going to hold him back. It’s obvious nothing holds him back.

Ryan just doesn’t know how to feel about this having to happen at all. Ray is committed to the bong story but if that’s true, this had to have been this way for weeks if not longer. He would have had to have been in excruciating pain for nearly all of it. Why would he have just outright refused treatment for so long? He’s never done so before. He’s never complained or shown to be against having treatment for anything before.

“What are you thinking about?” Jack asks.

“Nothing in particular,” Ryan replies. He gets a look of disbelief in reply.

“You could cut off your arm to make him feel better,” Jack suggests. Ryan isn’t very amused. “Relax, it was just a joke,” he murmurs. Ryan sighs. Jack looks away a bit and the two of them stand quietly but comfortably. It’s not that Ryan means to be unapproachable right now- or maybe it is. He could do with some time to think to himself. Not that it ever ends well.

“Are they going to use general anesthetic?” Jack asks. Ryan shakes his head.

“No. You know how he is,” he murmurs back. “He’s had worse with less anesthetic. He’ll be alright.”

“I guess,” Jack says, shuddering a little at the thought regardless. “I’m guessing you’d prefer if he didn’t?”

“What Ray does with his body is none of my business,” Ryan replies.

“So I guess you’re just going to be an asshole today,” Jack grumbles. “That’s fine.” Ryan sighs again. “Like you said, Ryan, what Ray does really has nothing to do with you. I don’t know if you’re- blaming yourself for this or whatever but-” he trails off.

“I’m not blaming myself,” Ryan promises. He snorts a small, forced laugh. “No more than usual, at least. It’s just- Ray and I have been making some peace lately. It’s still really weird to me. I just feel like, I don’t know, I’m going to let him down again. Or worse?”

“You’re always going to feel that way, Ryan,” Jack says and he pets Ryan’s arm softly. “And you might. People change. Whether or not you and Ray are always going to be fucking destiny conjoined or whatever shouldn’t be something that you try to worry yourself about all the time.”

“I know,” he says softly.

“It’s hard sometimes,” Jack agrees. “You’re getting better.” Ryan smiles.

“That’s good to know from someone else,” he says. “Thanks.”

“Also you should know Mica and Jeremy definitely made out,” Jack says. Ryan gives him a curious look.

“Funny,” he murmurs.

“Not really. Just kind of weird and unexpected. I guess Gavin coming to like Michael was that way too, though,” Jack comments but it seems to be more to himself this time. “I guess what they have in common is being small?”

“Jack-” Ryan says.

“Oh, I actually came to get you because we’re going to head out and check out a club where apparently this drug is being passed out like candy,” Jack informs him. “If you’re not too busy fretting over whether or not Ray is going to wake up from an amputation, Geoff does ‘want’ you to come along.”

“Don’t change the subject,” Ryan says immediately.

“We got Geoff into a fishnet top. It was a mistake,” Jack hums. “Come on.”

“Not that it’s any of my business either but I am pretty sure Mica will eat Jeremy.”

\- x -

Regret does not even begin to cover it. Ryan is just covered in glitter. He is also definitely not fit enough to be wandering around without a shirt on- not anymore, at least. That being said, he supposes he could be in fishnet. He and Geoff and Jack are certainly too old for something like this but considering the oblivious people that wander around, it hardly matters.

“Is there a reason we had to be in ‘costume’?” Michael asks mildly. At least he and Jeremy look semi-decent. Gavin and Mica look like they were born and raised here. They might be here for a job but Gavin already looks like he’s having the time of his life. It’s never occurred to Ryan that he might have never been to any place like this before. Fairly, Ryan’s only been to places like this for work reason, too. Owning clubs and visiting clubs take part in two very different circles.

“It’s fun!” Mica chirps happily. “Plus, we’re looking for a dealer, duh. We don’t want to tip them off.”

“So there was no reason,” Jack repeats. He was all amused until it came time for him to dress up. Now it’s significantly less funny. And significantly more neon furry.

“I just said,” Mica repeats. “It’s fun. You bunch of kill joys.”

“Let’s just find this dealer and get it over with,” Geoff grumbles. Without needing anymore instruction, they pair off to have a look around. It’s about what Ryan remembered a club to be like, admittedly it’s been awhile since he’s been to one. Clubs were never really his style. Neither are skinny leather pants.

“I can’t believe you get around in these,” Ryan says under his breath. “I’m pretty sure these pants are going to give me a vasectomy.”

“They’re not exactly my usual choice of clothing either, Ryan,” Michael huffs back. He shimmies his legs and hips uncomfortably but it doesn’t seem to help much. At least he has the legs for it. Hell, at least he has the midriff for the crop top he was more or less hustled into. Ryan should really make an effort to do some muscle building work or something. He’s not going to, but he should.

“You look nice,” Ryan compliments as if it’ll make him feel better. “You know, in a ‘I found you high as hell on the bathroom floor of an abandoned building’ nice.”

“Don’t patronize me,” Michael grumbles back.

“I was being nice,” Ryan assures.

“Don’t be nice to me,” Michael correct without skipping a beat. Ryan laughs a little and Michael grins. They wander through the crowd with minimum interest being paid to either of them. Everyone here is honestly off their tits on whatever this drug is they’re passing out. Jeremy assured that it had a very potent smell which was why the people at the warehouse tried to hide it in gas so he doesn’t think the whole club is flooded with it. That would be unfortunate.

Geoff and Jack seem to have taken to chatting up the bar tenders while Gavin and Mica are making idle with the more sober patreons. It’s unclear where Jeremy has gone to but that’s not unusual. It’s best to leave him be in most situations. The lot of them have turned out to work surprisingly well together. Of course, Ryan already knew he and his datemates work together flawless when it counts, but Mica and Jeremy just seem to fit in rather easily.

“Looks like they have it under control out here,” Ryan comments. “Let’s check the back.” Michael nods in agreement and the two of them start heading through the crowd into the back. It’s no less crowded or loud going back this way unsurprisingly. Ryan nudges his way through the crowd to have a peek around. There’s a few doors back this way; two of them are bathrooms and one of them is blocked by a bouncer.

A bouncer, Ryan realises, that’s wearing their symbol. Whatever is in that room is important to their job. That wasn’t the greatest mystery on the planet, Ryan’s pretty sure the dealer is back there, but it’s still nice to know. Michael obviously sees it too because he looks up at Ryan with an arched brow. Taking the bouncer isn’t a problem but they don’t want to draw attention to themselves like that especially in a crowd of very high people who will likely freak if anything even remotely stressful happens.

“What do you think?” Michael asks.

“Ask nicely?” Ryan offers.

“No,” Michael replies.

“One day you’ll go for that,” Ryan murmurs.

“Should we get the others?” he suggests instead.

“Too many of us back here will probably set off some bells,” he replies. “We have this.”

“Do we?” Michael says skeptically.

“Watch this,” Ryan instructs. He heads for the bouncer and Michael follows at an acceptable distance. The guy is about Ryan's size, maybe a little smaller, and better dressed. He doesn’t seem that interested or concerned about Ryan.

“Excuse me,” Ryan says and the guy looks at him a bit better. “Can we buy some drugs?” After a short scrutiny, perhaps realising they're too scantily clad to sneak anything, he steps aside to let them in. Michael looks at Ryan in tired annoyment as they hurriedly slip past the guard.

“I told you,” he murmurs.

“Usually ‘ask nicely’ means with a knife,” Michael points out.

“There's still time for that,” Ryan assures. Fortunately, it is a little quieter back here. There's a couple people, seemingly dealers, lounging around with clients to pass drugs off on them. Aside from that, there's a very finely dressed lady more than happily soaking in the attention of what looks to be a budding orgy. He and Michael discreetly look around for their logo.

“Oh, now there's a cute one,” the woman hums as she happens to catch a glance at them. Ryan feels like it would be awfully uncomfortable to lay on what is basically a giant beanbag while wearing a suit. She does pull it off very well, though. “Look at you. How adorable.” She gestures with her hand to come closer and Michael snarls irritably. When he steps forward, however, she wrinkles her nose.

“Not _you_ ,” she sneers. This only makes Michael more upset. “The nice blond there.” Ryan brushes past Michael hurriedly, grinning as he approaches her.

“Ryan-” Michael begins in aggravation.

“Buzz off,” Ryan replies halfly. “Just go flirt with your decrypt sugar daddy or something.” Michael glowers at him but ultimately, storms off back out of the room. The lady shoves some of her companions, really too high to notice anything, out of the way to make room for Ryan to sit with her. The pin on her tie is of their symbol. Of course, there's really no way to tell which symbol is more or less helpful or important than the last but Ryan can take a guess and say the dealer and her bodyguard are pretty important. If they don’t know something, they'll at least know someone who does.

Sometimes it's a little disorienting to remember none of this is real and this lady is probably a much different person when she's not working. She's just an actor with predetermined personality highlights here to help train in real time. She’ll probably play someone else later.

“Aren't you just the sweetest looking thing,” she hums and she touches Ryan's jaw fondly. “I've never seen you before.”

“Clubs aren't usually my forte,” Ryan replies, making himself more than comfortable with the rest of the people. They may be playing parts but being high as shit is no act.

“What a shame,” she replies and tousles his hair in her fingers.

“I heard they had some really good uppers here, though,” he murmurs. “I didn’t think they'd be sold by someone so pretty, though.” She grins.

“You almost sound like a connoisseur,” she teases. “Want a sample?”

“If you're offering,” he grins back. She snaps her fingers and one of the more sober people wandering around brings her a little wood box. From out of it, she pulls what looks to be some kind of modified rebreather. The stuff in the warehouse was spread out and diluted with gas and air; this is just a straight shot of whatever this stuff is.

“It won't hurt you,” she promises as she hands it over. “Outlast, baby. Experience your deepest pleasures.” Or darkest fears, but whatever. Ryan's sure this will be fine.

“Getting high alone is never fun,” Ryan urges. He takes a long inhale without actually breathing too much in, then moves to kiss her deeply. She laughs.

“I could think of a couple people who'd love to share you, too,” she assures with a tantalizing smile. God, this stuff tastes like rubbing alcohol. Ryan's never going to get the taste of it out his mouth.

“Really?” he hums. “If there's going to be more of this stuff there maybe we could go somewhere more private with them? We could- be at it a while.” She laughs again.

“I _like_ you.”


End file.
